


Blood Bath

by YanaWia_the_gay



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Catra is a fluffy cuddly vampire, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Magicat!Catra, Mutual Pining, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, Slow Burn, Useless Sapphics, Vampire!Catra, mentions of childhood trauma, on the feelings not the fluff, trans!Catra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27563374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YanaWia_the_gay/pseuds/YanaWia_the_gay
Summary: Catra is a recently turned vampire and has no idea how to function. After stumbling around blindly, she gets help from a certain mage. Glimmer offers to be her blood bank and the two bond over their shared connection. Fluff and pining ensues.
Relationships: Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 63
Kudos: 97





	1. Senses Working Overtime

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Blood Drunk](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19287685) by [Felle_DesignWorks (Felle)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felle/pseuds/Felle_DesignWorks). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like fluffy vampire stories because I certainly do. This started so much angsty-er but got progressively more fluffy as I wrote it. I doubt it will ever go back in the other direction, but I'll let you know if it does.
> 
> Thanks to helbrosi for beta-ing <3
> 
> //CW//  
> panic attack - minor depictions of (it's in the 3rd scene at the bar)  
> blood - depictions of (throughout chapter, blood drinking in latter half of last scene)

Catra was having a _fantastic_ day. She was stuck with the closing shift at the Velvet Glove, a local dive bar, after someone had called in sick this morning. Late nights weren’t the worst, but the double shift she had to work certainly was. To top it off, an overconfident jerk had spilled his rum and coke all over her when he decided to flirt with someone who could not give less of a shit. So Catra was exhausted _and_ smelled like shit by the time she closed up and headed home. Oh, and some shadowy asshole had jumped her from an alley, attacking her with claws and teeth. Now Catra was retching on the side of the road while her assailant had disappeared.

_Best day ever_ Catra grumbled.

As her dry vomiting continued, Catra's day got worse. Every sense was too much. The little way the street lamp buzzed and clicked as it flickered on and off went from inconvenient to incredibly frustrating. And don't get her started on how _bright_ that damn lamp was - a fluorescent bulb had no business burning her eyes out when she looked at it. The smell of a dumpster - mere feet away in the same alley where her attacker had appeared - was excruciating. Like that asshole had gone out of their way to dump every one of Catra's least favorite smells in there - way too old fish, soiled and moldy food, and a handful of decomposing rodents. All that she could run from if she could just move. But her shirt? Oh no, it smelled as if the entire black button down was drenched in laboratory grade ethanol. It made Catra want to claw her eyes out and rip her nose off for constantly twitching.

Fine, maybe she was just pissed. Catra forced herself to take a breath to steady her mind. It was shaky and too quick, but… it did nothing - it felt like nothing. She exhaled and repeated the process, again and again. Catra felt herself begin to involuntarily shake as she realized breathing seemed unnecessary to her body’s function - like a bunch of useless effort.

Where was her attacker anyway? Probably getting off on fucking over strangers. And shouldn't Catra care about getting away? Maybe if she could figure out how her legs worked; her muscles felt like they were on fire.

She couldn’t put the pieces together, everything that had happened was a hazy mess. She remembered closing up the bar, walking her usual route home, keys twirling on her finger.

Then, all of a sudden, someone was on her. Catra had dealt with lowlifes before - they were to some extent her people - but this was different. Her reflexes were good, the product of years of childhood trauma keeping her on edge and refined magicat instincts. None of it was fast or good enough to stop her attacker, however. In the blink of an eye, she was pinned to the ground as teeth dug into her shoulder and claws scraped her arms.

Reflexively checking her injuries as the memory played out, Catra found cuts and wounds on her arms with some amount of dried blood on her sleeves. They were largely superficial and would likely heal. More concerning, however, was the dull ache of her shoulder and the two small scabs she found there, at the crook of her neck.

_Who even bites people anyway?_

Catra really didn't have time to find the answer right now. No, she needed to get home - get safe - and then maybe she'd think about what happened more. Possibly with alcohol and shitty food involved. Catra pulled herself up, standing on wobbly legs. The burning had gone down at least; she could walk.

She lost track of how long it took her to get home, of how many looks she got from strangers as she stumbled and hobbled past them, and of how long she fumbled with her keys to get into her building.

When she was finally at her apartment door, she yanked it open without even going to unlock it. To her surprise, the door did in fact open. The consequence of her hasty action, however, was a cracking sound of wood as loud as a lumber mill and a wail of a creek that sent her ears flat against her head in pain. Looking down at the busted door handle and lock, Catra groaned. Fuck the door, it deserved that for being so loud.

After stepping inside, Catra vaguely made a motion to close the door, not really looking back or checking to see if it shut fully. Her grand plans of cheap beer and greasy food would have to wait, the couch was calling her. She stumbled over the armrest and collapsed onto the cushions, the agony of her senses finally subsiding as she passed out.

✦✦✦

When she woke the next morning, all her senses were drowned out by a dull ache. Small relief, Catra thought. The couch no longer reeked of spilled drinks and the unwashed dishes in the kitchen weren’t nearly as pungent. They were definitely still there, but no longer unbearable.

“This is worse than a hangover.” Catra mumbled aloud. She was stopped from further complaining by the sound of her voice - dry, rasping, and grating. She tried testing her vocal chords a few times - they still sounded like she had been chain smoking all her life, but she was recovering a bit. That scratchy, impossible-to-itch feeling at the back of her throat persisted, however.

In search of something to help, Catra stumbled from the couch and made her way over to the fridge. There weren’t a whole lot of options to choose from. Judging by a few sniffs, a lot of the food had gone bad due to negligence. Look, managing an overtaxing work enviornment, more friends than she knew what to do with, and one-bedroom apartment by herself was fucking hard, nobody would blame her for some wasted food.

Catra settled on beer and toast for breakfast. She retrieved a can from the fridge, pressing it to her forehead, hoping it’s coolness would soothe the ache she still felt. It did very little. Out of habit, she kept the can there as she threw two pieces of bread into the toaster. She plopped down on a wobbly stool at her kitchen table, and cracked open the can.

“Hair of the cat…” she mumbled before shotgunning the beer.

Or she would have downed it - but it tasted awful. Coughing and spitting the liquid out, little of which made it into the sink, she looked down at the can, eyes squinting incredulously. Taking a finger and dabbing it into the spilt liquid, Catra tested it with her tongue. The taste of the alcohol was there, distant and masked by dullness and something she couldn’t identify.

“This is gunna make work so much harder,” she groaned.

The toaster dinged. Eying the bread warily, she took a tentative and small bite, only to find similarly horrid results.

“Fuck me.”

✦✦✦

Catra slept on and off for the rest of the day and into the evening. She found herself in weirder and weirder positions when she woke - sometimes she was on the ground, legs still above her on the bed, other times she seemed to have gotten all the way to the couch again, sprawled out in painful ways. She couldn’t tell if it was sleepwalking or not, but the result was very unrestful.

She had a late shift that day at the bar, so at least her irregular sleep didn’t impede with that. By the time she dragged herself out of her latest nap and got put together for work, it was dark out. She made her way to the Velvet Glove, remembering to avoid the alleyway from the previous night.

Avoiding the alley and as many nuisances on her way over took more time than Catra thought it would. By the time she clocked in, it was well past when her shift would have started and the bar was already well on its way to being packed.

The Glove wasn’t big, but it was crowded - even without guests. There were half a dozen booths, a couple standing tables, a sizable open area in the middle that was the bar’s biggest feature, a cramped stage made out of cheap plywood spray painted black, and a long bar that covered the length of one of the walls dotted with mostly functional stools.

Right now, there were twenty-three patrons - Catra had counted, twice - and each of them had apparently decided to shout every conversation as loudly as possible. A live band was playing covers of songs that Catra usually liked, but today she found them unbearable. Each little note they fucked up gave her as much pain as dragging her claws down a chalkboard. On the plus side, the reek of alcohol on each of these drunks made it quite easy to determine who should have their alcohol cut off.

It wasn’t much of a plus, Catra admitted.

She was working on her fourth order of the night when another bartender saddled up next to her. It was Lonnie.

“You’re late and you look like shit.” Lonnie smirked, shifting a tray of drinks from one hand to the other.

“Aww, thanks for caring,” Catra cooed. “How did you enjoy your day off yesterday?” She could care less about Lonnie’s day, but the conversation distracted from the sound of two bastards arguing two stools over, so she’d take it.

“Hordak make you take that shift?” Lonnie said as if she didn’t know Catra would have been given her shift when Lonnie called in sick last minute.

“Ya, thanks for that by the way. By the time I got out, some fucker decided to jump me last night.” Catra hissed with substantially more bite than she intended.

“Shit, you alright?”

Ugh, Catra could not deal with Lonnie’s pity right now. “Ya, not like you give a shit. Why don’t you go back to doing something useful?” Fuck, that was way harsher than she meant.

The concern on Lonnie’s face washed away, replaced by annoyance, but she said nothing more. She ducked past Catra and went to bring her drink tray to the table she was serving.

As she left, Catra’s eyes followed her as she began mixing another drink. At first, she was trying and failing to form an apology, but something caught her attention about the other woman. Something seemed odd about her - _sounded odd_ about her.

_Ba-dump, ba-dump._

Catra swore she could hear Lonnie’s heart - it’s pace quickened by annoyance. That couldn’t be right though, her ears were good - her sharp hearing had gotten her out of trouble before - but they couldn’t be that good.

Slowly, she scanned the patrons, listening to each one individually. Catra found herself counting them as she went; there were now forty-two total, plus three band members, and three other staff including Lonnie. Catra could hear each of their hearts, forty-eight separate two-beat patterns. Their mismatched rhythms were making a racket. As soon as Catra realized how to listen for heartbeats, she couldn’t stop hearing them. Someone in a booth at the other end of the bar took a shot they shouldn’t have and their heart skipped a beat as they nearly blacked out. Catra’s eyes snapped to them. Similar events happened all around her, all vying for her attention at once.

This was torture. Catra placed a hand over her chest, expecting her own beat to be manic, but she felt nothing. She pressed her hand to her neck, then to several other pulse points, but to no avail. No long breath, no heavy drinking, no pulse to listen to - Catra’s coping mechanisms were quickly being stripped away. She stared at her hands in disbelief.

A customer barked at her for their drink and she snapped her head back up. His stupid entitled face and slow ass heartbeat were already getting on Catra’s nerves. She could haul his ass outside and kick him out for good. Did he deserve it? Probably not, but Catra was pissed beyond caring. Besides, no one would miss him.

A low growl from her stomach agreed. Catra remembered she hadn’t eaten in a day and a half. As she stared him down, her eyes kept flicking between his chest and his confused eyes. She could… _Wait,_ why the fuck were those two things connected in her mind?

Turning away, she went to make the customer’s mixed drink. As soon as she did, the ache in her stomach swelled, threatening to overwhelm the rest of her senses. Catra could do this; she could get through this night. Just finish the shift and she could go home, call tomorrow off. Easy.

Catra was so lost in thought of trying to cope, she overfilled the drink she was pouring. Cursing and snapping her hand back too fast, the glass fell and shattered on the floor.

She collapsed. Huddled and hidden behind the bar and clutching at her ears where they were folded back, Catra forced herself to breath, just for the small placebo effect it gave her. It wasn’t enough - every smell, sound, heartbeat, and that damned ache were too much. It felt like it’d never end.

At some point, Lonnie had come over with a broom and pan, while one of the other employees, a broad shouldered reptilian named Rogelio, carried her to the back exit and into the fresh night air. He had returned inside after a minute, replaced by Lonnie sometime later.

“Maybe you take the night off, huh Catra?” She said.

Catra could barely form words, the ache demanding so much of her attention while it was just Lonnie and her outside. “Ya, maybe.” She finally said.

“You need help getting home?” Lonnie was a few feet away leaning against the closed door to the bar.

“No. No, I’ll be fine.” Catra said. A moment later, she added in a mumbled, “thanks.”

When Lonnie nodded and stepped back inside, the ache subsided, giving Catra a moment of something close to solitude and peace. Weighing the pros and cons of leaving early, she finally gave up - she wouldn’t be getting many tips tonight with how she was feeling and she was more likely to get fired for mouthing off at a customer than be able to keep her cool for the whole night.

Reluctantly, Catra made her way back home.

✦✦✦

In much a similar fashion to the previous night, Catra stumbled into her apartment - nervous energy replacing the haze of senses. She closed the door fully this time, hoping no one would notice the lock was broken. _Fuck_ , the ache was worse than before. As she sat on her couch, debating the pros and cons of a hospital trip with no insurance, a soft _ding_ from her phone grabbed her attention.

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_ <attached photo> _  
_Aren’t conference halls the best_ 😜

Shit, if she couldn’t deal with this, maybe she _should_ ask for some help. Adora might think she was crazy, but at least she’d listen, right? Catra debated how to start this conversation, writing out all the shit that had happened to her in the last two days. The bite, the crazy senses, not eating or drinking, the counting, the heartbeats... _Wait, shit_. She erased everything, then typed a short message, hitting send before she could doubt herself.

**_Catra_ **  
_I think I might be a vampire..._

The long moments of waiting passed by with her only companion being the now very prominent ache in her stomach. It was terrifying in a whole different way than the previous night had been.

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_Like for Halloween?_ 🧛  
_Or like for real?_

As the frantic realization overcame Catra, she hurriedly typed out a response.

**_Catra_ **  
_I think i might have been bit_  
_The other night_  
_Can’t eat anything - tastes terrible_  
_Also i can see blood_

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_Wow okay, this is serious_  
_Have you gone to the hospital or seen someone?_

It was equal parts concerning and reassuring that Adora didn’t really question what she said. In typical Adora fashion, she seemed to have already moved on to finding a solution or way to help. While this tendency had caused conflicts in their relationship in the past, Catra welcomed it now.

**_Catra_ **  
_Ya, serious_  
_And no, who would believe me_

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_I believe u, do you need blood?_  
_like to drink?_

_Huh,_ Catra hadn’t bothered to think that far ahead. But at Adora’s mention, the ache in her gut turned into a needle sharp point of pain, causing her to hunch over, clutching at her stomach. Slowly, she typed out a response.

**_Catra_ **  
_Fuck, i think so_  
_Shit this really hurts_  
_I don’t really want to murder someone_

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_Aren’t blood transfusions a thing?_  
_You could probably, like only take a bit?_

**_Catra_ **  
_I don’t think i could walk into a hospital and just ask_

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_Hmm_  
_I’d lend you some of mine if i was there_

_What!?_ Adora was talking as if Catra was asking to borrow a tool, a pen, something mundane, not feast on her blood like an animal.

**_Catra_ **  
_HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?_

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_Lol, im not, ive been pacing my hotel room the past 20 mins_  
_Also searching for early flights back inbtwn txts_

That seemed more like it. Catra managed a light chuckle at the thought of the little indents in some tiny hotel carpet where Adora was no doubt furiously pacing. The lightheartedness didn’t last long - quickly abating as the sharp pain returned again. _Hunger._ Catra expected a shiver to run its course down her spine, but none came. An unnerving feeling, but one she’d have to focus on later.

She sucked in a breath, just to let it out as a sigh. Of all the people she knew, she couldn’t imagine any of them jumping at the opportunity to ‘donate’ blood to her. Well, to be fair, she hadn’t expected Adora to either, so maybe she was a bad judge of her relationships.

Adora seemed to be on the same page - Catra’s phone lit up with a _ding_ and a suggestion. It wasn’t her first choice.

**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️**  
_Ask glimmer?_

It’s not like Catra hated Sparkles, not anymore. Back in college, they had been at each other’s throats more often than not. - bad choice of words, Catra realized now. - But it seemed like they were starting to get along better outside a rigorous and stressful academic environment. So maybe? The growl from within her stomach said it was worth a shot at least.

✦✦✦

Two hours later, Catra awoke from her hunger induced nap to several knocks on her front door. She bolted for it and in a flash had crossed the large gap between the couch and the door, clattering against the wall and nearly running into the door. It was a little concerning how quickly she could do that now, even if she was far less graceful than she should be.

“Catra…” Glimmer’s concerned voice came softly through the wooden door.

Turning to the entrance, Catra hesitated. Or rather, forced herself to pause. Every muscle screamed at her to fling the door open and sate her hunger. She hadn’t been in this much pain in a _long_ time, not since the orphanage burned down and she escaped. That was two decades ago and yet every part of her still remembered that burning drive to keep herself safe and fed.

Looking down at her hands, she found that her claws were already extended, ready to hunt for prey. They were her best assets for hunting vermin or intimidating people. It had been what she was best at - it even scored her a job at the Glove. Her bartending skills were pretty shit, but the added perk of being a bouncer willing to get dirty? That got her in. How much harm had she already done with _these_? How much more of a threat would she be as a vampire as well?

“I can hear you, ya know,” Glimmer teased from the otherside of the door, snapping Catra’s attention to her voice.

How much did Adora tell her? All Catra had texted Glimmer was that it was an emergency and if she could come as quickly as possible. Explaining everything twice in a day seemed like a daunting task.

“It’s ok, I know you’re scared with... all of this. I’m here to help.”

_Oh_ , apparently a lot.

“You certainly got here quick.” Catra said. It was an inane comment, she knew, but she couldn’t bear to open the door yet. Stalling seemed like a better option than having to look Sparkles in the face right now.

“You said it was an emergency,” Glimmer exclaimed as if it was obvious. “I might have broken a few laws on the drive over.”

“Remind me not to get in a car with you,” Catra chuckled - more from nerves than banter. She leaned her head against the door. She’d have started banging her skull against the wood if Glimmer wouldn’t hear it.

“Catra just open the…” Glimmer said, impatience seeping into her voice.

The doorknob began to twist - not that it needed to - as the door was pushed open. Catra threw her full weight against it, pinning the door closed with a resounding _slam_ and reflexively clamping a hand down on the doorknob. Her claws were extended again and she had to force the panic back to retract them. It was a losing battle.

“What, is your door broken?” Glimmer huffed.

“Ya, I-I kinda fucked it up last night,” Catra’s voice was so quiet, she didn’t know if Sparkles would hear her on the other side. “...by accident.”

Turning around and leaning against the door, Catra fell against it, slumping and falling to the ground. She kept her weight on it, but pulled her knees to her chest and curled her tail in on herself. 

“J-Just give me a minute,” she said.

There was a moment of silence between them. All Catra could feel was the hunger - it burned away every other sense as it screamed for her attention. The tip of her tail curled downward in discomfort.

“Ok,” was all Glimmer said. After a second, there was a small thud sound from the other side of the door.

“What, did you hit your head?” Catra said. She ran a hand through the bushy hairs of her tail, trying to smooth them out. It took her a few passes before the hairs weren’t standing up on edge.

“No, I just got tired of standing around waiting for you to be less dramatic.” Glimmer snarked.

“I am not dramatic!” Catra retorted in a huff.

“Do you want my help or not?” Glimmer groaned.

Her voice was still bitter and sarcastic, but she hadn’t left - it made it feel like an almost genuine offer of help. And it made Catra want to cry. She didn’t deserve patience or niceness, not after lashing out and especially not out of Glimmer. For a few minutes, Catra focused on trying not to let the tears out - an odd feeling for someone who didn’t have to breath.

“I-I don’t want to hurt you, Sparkles.” She said, finally managing to mumble out a sentence.

There was no response. The span of moments that passed was its own kind of pain. In the silence, Catra began to hear the soft, muffled beat of a heart. It was Sparkles’, Catra realized, curling tighter into herself and suppressing another choked sob from a breath she didn’t realize she had taken.

“I know. I believe you.” Glimmer whispered - it was almost gentle? Catra had never heard Sparkles use such a soft tone with her, it was almost always snark and sarcasm between them. “Besides, I’m not defenseless - all the training as a mage has to be for something.”

“Are you saying you could beat me up?” Catra said, giving it as much bite as she could. Was now a time to be joking? Probably not, but it did make her feel better.

“I don’t need magic to take you down, vampire or no.”

“As if, you wouldn’t last more than a minute.”

The banter was nice. It was like slipping into her comfiest shirt. It almost convinced Catra that things were normal again and that they weren’t talking through a broken door that she was pinning shut with inhuman strength. The snark and sarcasm was always a part of their relationship. Even after she and Glimmer had stopped fighting, the banter didn’t stop. Before it had been with as much bite as possible, but now there was more teasing and ease to it.

“I’ve learned a thing or two since our last bout.” Glimmer said defiantly. “Some spells that would put even your reflexes to shame.”

Their last actual fight had been _explosive_. And even Catra could admit that neither of them really ‘won’. The argument that spurned their physical confrontation was a serious and nearly friendship ending one. Glimmer had accused Catra - more or less rightfully - of monopolizing Adora’s time to the detriment of the rest of the blond’s friends. They had fought, verbally at first, but quickly escalated to spell and claw when neither of them backed down.

Bow and Adora had to pull them apart at arrow and sword point before either of them relented. It almost didn’t work, Bow’s net arrows couldn’t do much to stop Glimmer from teleporting the first and second time. It was only a lucky strike from Scorpia’s stinger into Glimmer’s back that put an end to the fight. It was that incident that prompted their friends to confront them about their mutual anger and demand they learn to respect each other.

Locking Glimmer and Catra in a room to talk it out didn’t actually work, as much as their friends repeatedly tried. They had both agreed to cease _physical_ confrontations, but it wasn’t until months later that the cold war between them actually ended.

Catra found it amusing to hear Sparkles reference such a defining moment in their rocky relationship so casually.

“Does your car still have those dents and claw marks?” Catra wondered, a raspy laugh bubbling up. The fight didn’t start in the parking lot next to Glimmer’s silver Honda, but round two certainly had.

Glimmer laughed like it was a fond memory, “I got the dents out, but the mechanic wouldn’t touch the claw marks, she was too scared. Maybe you could add some extra ones to the other side, even things out.”

“Ha, I don’t plan on getting into an actual fight with you for at least another year, so you’ll have to wait.” Catra joked. Even their shouting matches had subsided in the last few months.

“You know, we haven’t sparred recently,” Glimmer said. “What’s it been, half a year? We should definitely do that again.”

The sparring matches had been Glimmer’s idea, to Catra’s surprise. Originally, she only accepted for an easy excuse to throw a few consequence-free punches, but their workouts had become another part of their banter - teasing and easy. Catra got a kick out of the scrunched up face and pout Glimmer always made whenever she landed a hit on her.

“Ya, we should.” Catra said.

No one spoke for a minute after that. Their relationship had improved so much in a year and Catra was surprised to find how much she herself had actively tried to make things less hostile between her and Glimmer. Normally, she would have written Glimmer off, just another person in the long list of people that hated her. What made Sparkles different?

Sure, she was attractive, or whatever. And Catra definitely didn’t mind seeing Glimmer in her workout clothes every time they sparred. Amongst all of Catra’s friends though, Glimmer was also the only one who could or would ever keep up with Catra. Sure, Adora could match her in snark, but she never threatened to get physical like Sparkles did when she was really pissed off. Catra found herself admiring that fire, even if she was the one to stoke it.

Eventually, Glimmer slowly asked, “So… are you gunna let me in?”

Catra sighed and rose to her feet. For a brief moment, the panic returned, but she managed to push it down. If Glimmer was still willing to stick her neck out for this - quite literally, Catra thought with a chuckle - then Catra wasn’t going to say no. “Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The door creaked open.

Glimmer was clambering to her feet in the hallway, concern and worry still lightly written into her features. It was nicer than Catra wanted to admit to see Sparkles. It was stupid, but the best part of seeing her was that she was actually a friendly-ish face, despite everything. Catra had spent the last two days worrying alone and even if something bad happened tonight, at least she had someone to help clean up the mess.

Glimmer was wearing the kind of clothes she might throw on in the middle of the night - barely more than pajamas and a purple hoodie. That and the bags under her eyes made Catra wonder if she had already been asleep by the time Adora and her had texted Glimmer for help. Why did she agree?

Catra, perhaps mistakenly, looked down. The steady beat of Glimmer’s heart was evident. Her hearing immediately picked up on her pulse, the blood coursing through each and every vein. The spike of hunger within her swelled at the sight. Part of Catra lunged forward in anticipation; another part taking a step back in trepidation. In the end, she didn’t move anywhere at all, muscles flexing as she stood in place.

At that, Glimmer, perhaps absentmindedly though Catra doubted it, summoned her staff to her hand. It’s magical crystal focus hummed to life as it began drawing in latent magic. Since the two hadn’t spoken a word since the door opened, Glimmer gestured with her other hand toward the apartment, asking to be let inside.

_Good job Catra._ She groaned to herself as all the levity left the room.

Catra forced herself to step backwards into the apartment, but compromised with her hunger by not letting Glimmer out of her sight. When the pink-haired girl cautiously walked in, Catra took an involuntary breath in, taking in her scent. Sweat, old dioterent, and strawberry perfume - s _parkly sweet_ was the first descriptor Catra could come up with. She had hoped Glimmer didn’t notice her sniffing, but the skip of her heartbeat said otherwise.

This time, Catra broke the silence between them, “So,um…w-where should we do this?” She asked out loud, half to herself.

Glimmer threw her bag down on the couch. As the flap fell open, medical supplies peaked out. _For me or you Sparkles?_ Catra thought dryly.

“Bathroom?” Glimmer suggested. Her focus seemed to be more on the apartment than the looming threat behind her. Catra wasn’t sure if that made her relieved or worried.

Catra snickered as a thought came to her head, “It’s gunna be a bloodbath.”

For half a second, Catra was worried that the dark humor was too much, that she was about to scare Sparkles off. The unrestrained laugh and snort that shot out from Glimmer, however, said otherwise. Unexpected, but nice. Maybe Catra hadn’t fucked up so bad. She joined in with her own raspy laugh and the tension eased back out of the room.

For the first time since entering the apartment, Glimmer turned to look directly at Catra. Her brow was furrowed just slightly and one side of her mouth was quirked upwards. Catra remembered how that look was usually accompanied by a certain amount of stubbornness in their past interactions. Even if Catra refused help now, Glimmer probably wouldn’t leave her alone until she relented.

Not that Catra would have minded.

“What are you smirking about now?” Glimmer asked, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.

“Your dumb face,” Catra quickly said, removing the smile that had krept onto her face. Glimmer stuck out her tongue. “Anyway, let’s get set up.” Catra pointed the way to her bathroom.

In a more comfortable and determined silence, the pair worked to set up as best they could. The bathroom wasn’t particularly large, which actually worked as a plus for once. Catra could sit on the toilet and lean over the tub where Glimmer could sit on the shower chair. That arrangement seemed like it would at least reduce the amount of mess that might occur. After a small discussion, they settled on Catra feeding from Glimmer’s shoulder since neither of them could think of a better place, tropes be damned.

Glimmer had retrieved her medical supplies and staff, placing her kit and bandages on the sink and her magical focus against the bathroom wall. Catra had taken to moving the shower curtain out of the way and cleaning the parts of the bathroom that they were going to use. When they were all done and ready, the pair sat in their respective positions. Glimmer had removed her shirt and hoodie and pulled the strap of her bra down. In solidarity and in not knowing what to do with herself, Catra had stripped down to her underwear.

They sat there, facing each other, neither exactly sure of what to do next.

“Hey, um... can I ask you something?” Glimmer said.

“You just did.” Catra reflexively replied. She was staring into the tiled floor, using a claw to pick at the skin on her thumb. “Ya, sure.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Catra saw Glimmer roll her eyes before saying, “Can you see my heartbeat?”

Catra’s eyes snapped up at that, body tensing as she scanned Glimmer’s face. She wasn’t sure if the question came because of what Adora told her or from earlier in the entrance way. In either case, Catra didn’t see anything malicious in those purple eyes.

“Ya, it’s been happening since…” She trailed off.

Glimmer nodded as if she understood. “What does it look like?” She must have noticed the surprised look on Catra’s face because she added, “sorry if that’s too weird.”

Catra had never thought to actively look - it had always seemed so terrifying and disgusting before - like she was a predator again, stalking her food, waiting to find the easiest and most filling prey. Glancing down, beneath Glimmer’s skin was the subtle outline of the organ, pumping away. Even as Catra stared, Glimmer’s heart didn’t seem to pick up speed. How was she calm in all this? Compared to before, seeing her heart didn’t make Catra want to run away and hide - she had been asked to look after all.

Catra hadn’t noticed until now: the ache - that burning hunger - wasn’t nearly as powerful as it had been before. Sure, it was there, especially now that Catra was thinking about it, but it seemed to have subsided for a little while now. She certainly felt less panicky, and something else she didn’t have a word for...

Realizing that Glimmer was still waiting for some kind of response, Catra said, “Um, I can see its shape - kinda fleshy or muscly... it’s tinted red. I can hear the steady beat pretty well.”

Glimmer snickered and brought a hand up to her mouth to help stifle the laugh. “For some reason I was expecting something more poetic.”

“How about I work on that for another time.” Catra felt a bit of her mirth returning. _Another time_ , her demeanor soured again: how long would she have to keep this up for? Would she always require blood? Vampires didn’t just stop being vampires. Even as the thoughts came, she felt the ache and worry begin to return.

“Hey, whatever happens to me...” Catra quietly blurted out. “Thanks, this means a lot.” She was staring into the tiled floor again, trying to drown out the sound of Glimmer’s blood.

Glimmer reached out, brushing her fingers over the fur covered-knuckles on Catra’s hand. “You’re not a monster, Catra.” Glimmer squeezed at the hand, her touch seemed dulled, but Catra still felt the warmth. “I’m doing this willingly.”

“Mhm,” Catra grunted, now staring into those purple eyes again. Sure, there was concern and maybe a little fear in them now, but that stubborn determination was still there. Small comfort.

A second later, Catra added, “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Catra leaned across the gulf between them, feeling Glimmer’s warmth radiating from her. Was Catra cold or was Glimmer just that warm? She held tight onto Glimmer’s hand and felt a small squeeze back, neither willing to let go in the moment. 

Placing her head into Glimmer’s exposed shoulder, the two rested there in an awkward hug, suspended above the edge of the tub. Catra felt a featherlight touch on her back that made her nearly jump off the toilet.

“Sorry, was that too much?” Glimmer asked, removing the hand that had touched Catra’s back.

For a brief moment, Catra felt the warmth near her back as she realized it was Glimmer’s hand. When it was removed, the cold air rushed to fill the space and that feeling was gone.

“Oh, um, no.” Catra replied. “It just… startled me.”

“You sure?”

“Ya.” It was actually kinda _nice,_ Catra thought.

Glimmer slowly replaced her hand, adding more pressure this time and the warmth returned. Catra reciprocated with her own, placing hers at the small of Glimmer’s back. She would have much preferred to focus on this moment than what she was about to do. This kind of touch would have been laughably unheard of between them a year ago. Even after they stopped fighting, the closest they had gotten to anything like _this_ was their sparring matches.

Glimmer was warm, like hugging a space heater burning kind of warm. For a brief moment, Catra wanted nothing more than to melt into this touch. Which was weird. She had never been a big fan of touch before - most of her prior experience came from over affectionate friends who didn’t ask before lifting her up in their claws or from an ‘overbearing’ guardian who used touch like a weapon when she was a child.

But this felt different; it was warm and soothing and not at all threatening. And Glimmer would have stopped if Catra asked, right? She just had after all. So maybe Catra could let herself enjoy this moment... for a little bit at least. Relaxing into the embrace, Catra squeezed her arms a little tighter around Glimmer, reveling in the heat radiating off her skin. In response, she felt the hand on her back begin to rub slow circles into her fur.

“Catra…” Glimmer giggled softly. “Your tail…”

Catra immediately pulled out of the embrace. Glancing down, she saw the end of her tail had curled itself around Glimmer’s knee. She blurted out, “oh shit, sorry” before removing her tail and forcing it to fully wrap around her own leg to prevent that from happening again.

“No, no, it's fine. It's funny that you didn’t even notice it.” Glimmer said as she slowly closed the distance between them again and placed her head into Catra’s shoulder.

_Safe_ , that’s what this warmth was. Glimmer made her feel safe - like Catra didn’t have to run from this moment or fight against it. A small knot of worry cut through the feeling as Catra wondered if the only reason Glimmer cared at all was because of this emergency. Sure, they may have become something close to friends, but this moment was just a fluke, right?

Pushing down that fear, Catra whispered, “I’m gunna… do it now.”

“Ya, ok.” Glimmer said as Catra felt a nod against her shoulder.

Catra slowly opened her mouth and lightly placed it on Glimmer’s skin, just underneath her neck. Just like the rest of her, Glimmer’s shoulder was soft and warm - Catra could even feel the rhythmic pulse of the vein just below the surface. She felt Glimmer suck in a breath at her presence before slowly letting it out. This close, Catra could feel Glimmer’s pulse quicken in response to this contact.

Gradually, Catra pressed her fangs down. It was incredibly easy, she discovered, to pierce Glimmer’s skin, not unlike the ease with which a needle or syringe might. She felt a cool movement within her fangs, making its way down into the puncture wounds. What it was, Catra hadn’t the faintest clue. Within a moment, blood began to trickle from both open wounds. At first, Catra tried to suck it upwards, like drinking from a straw, but the blood kinda just went everywhere. Eventually, she found that her tongue was more effective, lapping up blood with every pass.

“That kinda tickles,” Glimmer giggled.

It was on her third lick that Catra felt it. To call the warm feeling coursing through her body a rush, would have been a gross understatement. As unpleasant as the initial onslaught of senses had been when Catra was first turned, this feeling was euphoric. Every shot of alcohol, every good night’s sleep, every time she had ever gotten off, every… everything - even combined wasn’t enough to compare to this. The feeling of hunger surged, urging her to lick more rapidly, to continue to sake her thirst.

“Your sooo cooool” Glimmer suddenly said. Her voice was bubbly and giddy, almost like she was tipsy.

Catra would have shot Glimmer a concerned look if she didn’t have her fangs pressed into her shoulder. Almost in response to her silent query, Glimmer’s body slackened, falling forward and almost out of the tub. Catra had to adjust her hold to keep them both upright.

_Sparkles!?_ Was she okay? Did Catra take too much blood? She had been feeding for less than a minute, but maybe that was already too much. Catra felt a threatening ache rise from within her stomach as she contemplated stopping.

How much did Catra need? They hadn’t really talked about this before, Catra just expected she would know. Her desire to feed more was still there, it hadn’t abated. She took a breath in and sighed it out, silently cursing with how little it helped.

She smelled Glimmer’s blood, that metalic tang in the air that registered as almost sweet to Catra’s nose. The taste in combination with the scent of blood flooded Catra’s mind, washing it in a haze. The high of blood returned with every new sniff and lick - almost as good as the first time, just disappointingly close enough that it compelled her to continue. All Catra wanted to do was to drink in more of this. Why would anyone want this to stop?

Catra’s thoughts were arrested by the sound of a whimper from Glimmer. _Shit, right._

Disregarding the roar of spiking hunger, Catra abruptly dislodged her fangs from Glimmer’s neck and pulled away. She missed the contact already. Blood began to trickle out of the open wound and down Glimmer’s chest. Glimmer herself looked like she’d just been dumped in an ice bath, she was so startled.

“S-Sorry, should have given you some warning or something.” Catra fumbled with her words. Her eyes flicked between Glimmer and tracking the droplets of blood that fell and splattered against the tub.

Glimmer looked too dazed to really be able to hear or coherently respond.

“Uh, Sparkles?” Catra said, the small mote of worry continued to build up, beginning to rival the blood lust in strength. At least Glimmer looked up at the mention of her nickname. “Alright, I-I’m gunna get you cleaned up.”

Holding one hand on Glimmer to keep her steady, Catra shakily reached out with her other to the sink, pulling some gauze and tape down from the first aid kit that was there. She supposed that the proper method of treatment was a little more complicated - probably involving actually cleaning off the wound. That’s about as far as her mind got with the thought, though, because Glimmer leaned forward, raising her arms lazily towards Catra.

“C’mere, wha- why’d you leave?” Glimmer’s voice was slurred and as messy as the blood staining her bra.

Catra blinked a few times. Briefly she considered that the high she felt might be similar to what Glimmer was going through. Which, she supposed, made sense? There was certainly a part of Catra that wanted to know more, but now was _definitely_ not a good time to talk about this. Even now, Catra could barely concentrate on thoughts or anything that wasn’t related to the wasted blood dripping off of Sparkles.

Holding the gauze in a hand, Catra debated licking up the remaining blood around Glimmer’s shoulder. No, no, that was too much temptation. She settled for wrapping up the wound and pointedly _not_ taking any breathes in fear of the blood lust returning in full force.

She leaned Glimmer against the back of the tub, giving Catra use of her other hand to help claw off a section of medical tape to hold the gauze in place. The process was clumsy and slow, both because Catra could barely think and because of Sparkles' many attempts at physical affection. _What a clingy drunk._

What was she going to do with her now? Well if Glimmer was blood drunk, she’d be in no condition to drive anywhere.

“Be right back.” Catra said, patting Glimmer on the shoulder. She received a small nod in return.

Catra stood up - expecting dizziness but finding none. The haze of blood was clearing slightly and when she sprinted to the bedroom to snatch the comfiest sleep shirt from her dresser, she barely made a sound. Catra didn’t give herself time to marvel at her newfound grace, instead returning to the bathroom just as fast.

Sparkles was still there, half passed out.

“Alright, listen.” Catra said, sitting back down on the toilet, shirt extended toward Sparkles in her hand. It was her black _‘Fuck Off’_ shirt that she bought a few years ago on impulse. “You should probably change - no I will not hug you right now - and then go sleep on the couch.”

Glimmer made a pout and a _hmph_ sound.

Catra really wasn’t sure what she was objecting to, but picked the one that made more sense in her mind. “You are in no state to drive.”

Glimmer made no move to make this easier. _Ugh_ , Catra should just leave her in the tub all night - see how much Sparkles liked waking up with a cramp in her neck from sleeping against the hard porcelain. Catra was frustrated with how much she gave a shit to not let that happen.

Glimmer was just staring up at her now, purple eyes slowly regaining their focus as they stared into her. What was she even thinking? She probably wasn’t. Would she even remember all this happening? There was another twinge of pain in Catra’s gut that she did her best to ignore.

“Fine, let’s go twinkle toes.” Catra got into the tub, stepping over the congealed blood. She put Glimmer’s arms around her back and used their embrace to lift her onto her feet, trying to ignore the pleasant warmth of their touch.

Glimmer snorted, trying to repeat the nickname back in giddy amusement. At least she was making it easier to get her out of the tub by holding tightly onto Catra.

Catra guided her - half carried really with how much Glimmer was leaning on her - to the couch. She debated throwing her onto it, she definitely would have if Sparkles was sober enough to snark her back, but decided against it.

Grabbing some extra pillows and a throw-over blanket from the closet - which honestly Catra never expected to use when she was given them as a housewarming gift - she made up the couch for Glimmer to sleep on.

“Do not freak out at me in the morning because of this,” she hissed, leveling a half-serious warning at the near asleep woman. “I will definitely have a panic attack if you come running into my room or something.”

Glimmer mumbled a response.

Catra decided, instead of taking Glimmer’s bra off directly, to throw the borrowed shirt on top then remove the bra underneath. Modesty was important, right? Kind of a weird sentiment after Catra had just fed on Glimmer’s blood, but whatever, it’s not like she could’ve asked Glimmer and expected a coherent response. Pulling the shirt over Glimmer’s head, Catra helped guide her arms through the sleeves. Then, she unclasped Glimmer’s bra, and, after moving her arms back and forth, removed the garment from underneath the shirt.

Only after Catra was finished with the whole ordeal did she remember that Glimmer had worn her own shirt here and Catra could have just used that one. Instead, Glimmer was sitting there, still staring at her with hazy purple eyes, wearing one of Catra’s favorite shirts.

“Ugh, whatever. Now g’night.” She said, laying Glimmer down on the pillows and throwing the blanket over her.

Catra slowly stood up, about to leave but still fidgeting in place. This whole thing had been _a lot._ In so many more ways that she had expected. A large part of her was still worried about Glimmer’s recovery - maybe she should see a doctor in the morning? Or maybe she just needed some orange juice and time. It was hard to imagine Catra sleeping off this worry, especially when she was so clearly the cause of Glimmer’s current state. And why did she care so much in the first place? Was this part of her vampiric instincts too? Catra felt her tail happily swishing behind her, curled upwards. Ugh, clingy wasn’t the first (or last) thing she thought of when vampires came to mind.

Her attempts to repress those thoughts failed as a single familiar feeling wormed its way to the surface. Glimmer was safety. She was a friend who had helped her, sure, but it was something else. The ghost of warmth played over Catra’s skin as she remembered the feeling of Sparkles embrace while feeding. There was a certain amount of comfort in having a food source that Catra trusted. It made her feel kinda disgusted to put in blunt terms like that, but it was true. She wasn’t going to stop needing blood any time soon.

She glanced back down. Glimmer had pulled the small blanket around her and up to her face, somehow managing to fit entirely within the small throw-over. She looked like a cute sparkling sleepy burrito, only her face and bubblegum pink hair poking out. Soft mumbles came from her lips still, but she looked peaceful and at ease as she slept. Would either regret doing this in the morning? Catra didn’t know and certainly didn’t want to think about it more right now.

Catra turned on her heel and was about to beeline it to her bedroom when a mumble left Glimmer’s lips that sounded distinctly like her name. “C-Catra…” Glimmer had removed an arm from her blanket burrito and was making grabby hands at Catra’s leg.

“Ugh, why…” Catra groaned, running a hand through her hair.

She should probably sleep nearby to make sure Sparkles didn’t wake up and need something, right? It’s not like she knew her way around Catra’s apartment very well, this was one of only a handful of times she had visited. And hey, maybe this would stop her sleep walking, that would be a plus.

Catra stood there, weighing the pros and cons in her mind, but eventually gave up after a few minutes and quickly retrieved a pillow from her bedroom. She threw it on the ground in front of the couch, pushing the coffee table over to give herself some more space. Sleeping on the hardwood floor wouldn’t have appealed to her a few days ago, but here she was, stretched out and relaxed at the foot of her own couch.

Rolling over towards the couch, Catra gave a final glance up at Sparkles: she was now properly nestled in her blanket and pillows again, fast asleep and snoring softly. Catra let out a contented sigh, falling asleep soon after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from a song I was forced to listen to as a kid by the same name by XTC. It seemed appropriate.  
> Would love to know what you thought in the comments <3
> 
> Edit: I made a map of Catra's Apartment on my [tumblr](https://unrelentingsailing-blog.tumblr.com/post/634823171763306496/made-a-little-map-for-catras-apartment-in-my)
> 
> Edit2: Glitra's first time feeding - amazing art by @bonpop on [tumblr](https://bonpop.tumblr.com/)


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer wakes up the day after and reflects on everything that happened. Then she and Catra have a talk about it and… it doesn’t go well at first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I thought this chapter was going to be too short. Silly Yana, when will you learn.  
> Thus, I present you a three course meal: pining, angst, and cuddles (and cuddles for desert as well)  
> Enjoy!
> 
> ///CW///  
> Physical Assault - minor descriptions of in the second scene, just after they order food. If you need a spoiler to help you get through this, see the end notes.

Glimmer woke up five hours past day break on Thursday afternoon. Even as she lay there, she felt sweaty, gross, and groggy. Glimmer always ran hot, so that part wasn’t a surprise. Her friends made fun of her, saying that she was a space heater because she was short and always angry. It didn’t feel far from the truth.

But right now, despite the cool fall breeze hitting the windows and permeating the apartment, Glimmer felt uncomfortably warm. Like middle of the summer heat wave kind of warm. She threw off her blanket, which landed somewhere on the floor. It helped a little. She rubbed slow circles into her eyes to clear the grogginess, and slowly she adjusted to the foreign room and couch she was on.

 _This wasn’t her bed, this wasn’t even a bed._ Glimmer bolted upright, a brief wave of adrenaline and anxiety shooting through her. Looking down she realized she was wearing an oversized black shirt with large white letters that spelled out ‘Fuck Off’.

“Right,” Glimmer mumbled, as the memories came flooding back in - the late night drive, the broken door, the feeding. Despite a rough start, giving Catra her blood had gone… pretty well. Glimmer didn’t even have to blast some sense into the vampire with fist to face sparkles, which was an added plus. Addressing the rest of the apartment, Glimmer called out, “Catra?”

No response.

Where was that annoying idiot? This was her apartment right? Taking a glance around, Glimmer noticed a pillow on the floor next to the couch. Was that always there? Glimmer was pretty sure that hadn’t been there last night.

 _Wait._ Did Catra sleep next to her? Some part of Glimmer told her that it should be mildly threatening for a vampire to sleep within a foot of her - never mind in the same apartment. But that’s not the feeling that lodged itself in Glimmer’s mind.

It was somehow... comforting? Which was not a feeling that Glimmer usually associated with the prickly magicat.

Glimmer ignored the warmth blooming on her face in favor of focusing on the anxiety about Catra’s absence. She spotted her phone on the coffee table, plugged in to what she assumed was one of Catra’s spare chargers. Reaching over she opened it up, tapping over to her messages. Wow, there were a lot of them.

 **_New Messages:_ **  
**_BFS4L (11)_ **  
**💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_(3)_ **  
**💀** ** _xXx_catra_xXx_** **💀** **_(1)_ **

Glimmer started at the top, tapping on their group chat to see what she had missed.

**_BFS4L_ **

**💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[8:22am]_ **  
_Morning! Let us know how things went._

 **💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[9:35am]_ **  
_Um, guys? Anyone there? Starting to get a little worried here._

 **💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[10:41am]_ **  
_If I don’t hear from you before noon, I’m driving over there myself!_

 **💀** ** _xXx_catra_xXx_** **💀** **_[10:45am]_ **  
_Lol, you don’t even have a car, nerd._  
_And yes, we’re both alive._

 **💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[10:45am]_ **  
_I need picture proof Catra._  
_Don’t underestimate my worry!_

 **💀** ** _xXx_catra_xXx_** **💀** **_[10:46am]_ **  
_Alright fine._  
_ <attached photo> _

Glimmer opened the photo, seeing Catra sitting in front of the couch, tongue out. Behind her, Glimmer was asleep, still wrapped up in her blanket burrito. It was a pretty cute picture - it wasn’t everyday that Catra acted as silly as this and for once Glimmer’s hair didn’t look like a complete mess while she was sleeping. She downloaded the photo and saved it before returning to her messages.

 **⚔️** ** _Sword Lesbian_** **⚔️** **_[10:46am]_ **  
_Omg, what if she just staged the body like that. The perfect crime._

Glimmer’s snort echoed through the apartment. Way to make it worse, Adora. Predictably, this had the exact reaction from Bow that Glimmer suspected it would.

 **💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[10:46am]_ **  
_Adora! Not helping!_  
_Also, what time is over there, shouldn’t you be asleep?_

 **⚔️** ** _Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️** **_[10:48am]_ **  
_Shhh, I don’t need sleep._  
_Also, I was checking in to my flight for tomorrow! I’ll be back by Saturday!_

Last night, when Adora had called her and told her about Catra’s emergency, Glimmer remembered feeling relieved when Adora said she’d be coming back early. Dealing with Catra was supposed to be Adora’s problem, right? Now, though…?

Glimmer felt her face contort into a pout when she thought about not having Catra to herself. Would the vampire prefer to feed from Adora? They were closer, right? Catra had gone to Adora first, it was just coincidence that Glimmer was available and Adora wasn’t.

Why did that annoy Glimmer? She spent a minute or so tapping the side of her phone absentmindedly while she let her thoughts roam. Getting nowhere, she returned to her texts.

 **💘** 🏹 ** _Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[10:47am]_ **  
_Perfect, then we can all head over to Catra’s on Saturday to check up on her._

 **💀** ** _xXx_catra_xXx_ ** **💀** **_[10:55am]_ **  
_Ugh, sure._  
_Also here, she’s alive so stop bothering me._  
_ <attached video> _

Oh no, there was more? What had Catra done? Glimmer hesitated before tapping on the video, not sure if she really wanted to find out. Curiosity got the best of her - even if it was embarrassing, she at least wanted to know about it before her friends made fun of her. Glimmer sighed then hit play.

_As the video started, Catra sat on the edge of the couch, in front of Glimmer. Catra’s hand gave her bunny ears while she slept._

_“You see that breathing?” Catra said, dropping the bunny ears and pointing to the rise and fall around Glimmer’s midsection. “She’s alive...” The vampire’s eyes went wide and she bared her fangs. “...for now.”_

_Catra burst into laughter at her own joke, clutching her midsection and shaking the camera with how hard she was laughing. Then, when she had regained some of her composure, she flipped the camera to the front side and pointed it at Glimmer._

_“Hey, Sparkles, do the thing.” Catra’s finger came into view, poking at Glimmer’s cheek._

_Glimmer shifted, turning her head until it was buried into the pillow. Catra poked her a few more times before Glimmer’s head pointed towards the camera, mumbling incoherently. Amongst the babbles, the only sound that could actually be heard was the vampire’s name, “C-Catra…”_

_From off screen, Catra coughed quickly and flipped the camera back around. “See? She’s fine.” Catra’s face appeared, but she was no longer looking into the camera. “Anyway, see y’all soon.” The feed cut out._

Well, that wasn’t as bad as Glimmer thought it would be. At least there were no drawings on her face that she had seen. But why was she mumbling Catra’s name? That was still embarrassing. Had she been doing that all night?

Glimmer vaguely remembered what happened after the feeding - being cleaned up and helped to the couch - but all of it was still hazy. She briefly wondered what other embarrassing things she might have said while out of it.

Her mind wandered further, landing on the vampire herself. Rather than exploring them further, Glimmer decided to jump to Catra’s text to see if she was still around.

 **💀** ** _xXx_catra_xXx_ ** **💀** **_[10:40am]_ **  
_Morning sparkles_  
_I’m downstairs, washing clothes_  
_Be back soon_

Glimmer typed off a response and sent it.

✨ ** _Glimmer_ ** ✨ **_[1:02pm]_ **  
_Okie_ 💜  
_I’ll be here when you get back!_

She let out a sigh that eased her nerves, at least that was in order. A not so small part of Glimmer was relieved that Catra hadn’t run away somewhere to ghost her for a week. That had been Catra’s go to response the last time the two had gotten into a real argument - which thankfully was months ago. Not that this counted as an argument, but anxiety still said otherwise.

But things were better now between them. If they couldn’t get their feelings out into words, hitting each other for sport often did the trick. Glimmer was the first to suggest sparring, but they’d been joking about it for a few weeks prior. Only when Catra had said something stupid and vaguely flirtatious did Glimmer actually book an afternoon at a local training arena and drag them both there. She had been so determined to punch that stupid smug look of Catra’s face.

Glimmer sighed fondly at the memory of Catra flat on her ass seeing stars, after Glimmer had laid into her with a sparkle powered fist. The magicat had stopped going easy on her after that.

Now, what was she going to do until Catra got back?

Still sitting on the couch, Glimmer brought her legs to her chest to think. She stretched her borrowed shirt over her knees - it did nothing for how hot she warm felt, but it was comforting. Balling up was an old habit from Glimmer’s childhood - it used to drive her mom insane for stretching out all her shirts.

An idea crossed her mind and she stuck her nose into the shirt. It didn’t really smell like anything, except maybe clean laundry, which was somehow disappointing. Glimmer briefly wondered if Catra used non-scented detergent because she was sensitive to smells. What did Catra smell like? Did that change when she was turned?

Glimmer was pretty sure Catra had sniffed her when she walked into the apartment last night, so it was only fair that Glimmer got to know what Catra smelled like in return. Was that weird? Probably not.

“Ugh,” Glimmer exhaled. She needed to do something to clear her mind. Might as well shower - it was part of her morning routine anyway and it would help get rid of the yucky sweaty feeling. Plus it would kill some time.

“Hey Catra, I’m using your shower!” Glimmer said to no one. Sure, she could just text Catra, but what was she gunna do, haul her out of the shower?

Glimmer made her way to the bathroom. It was as they had left it the night before - staff still in the corner, first aid kit still in the sink, blood droplets in the tub. Of course, Catra hadn’t bothered cleaning anything up. Glimmer groaned to herself and did a half-assed job of getting the tub clean of blood enough for her to actually use the shower. Next, she de-summoned her staff and moved the first-aid kit to the side.

Then, after getting everything she needed to shower, she removed her clothes and found bulky bandaging wrapped around her shoulder. It was crudely attached with tape in too many places and the amount of layers was utterly unnecessary. Maybe this was why she was so hot.

Glimmer had meant to do the cleanup herself - first aid was more or less something she was trained at, even if her certification was a few years out of date. But, she hadn’t accounted for being drunk-on-her-ass levels of dizzy afterwards.

She undid all the wrappings, finding that there was barely any blood staining them at all. Looking in the mirror, she saw the two little dark scabs where her skin had been healing overnight. At least it wasn’t still bleeding and the shower probably wouldn’t open her wounds back up.

Glimmer turned the shower on and then stepped in.

“Ow, ow, ooh,” Glimmer hissed as the water hit her, immediately turning the knob to lessen the heat. Even still, the temperature was too much for her - the warm water was just _too_ warm, almost making her itch. What was wrong with her? Warm showers were always the best. By the time she finished adjusting the nozzle, it was pointing heavily towards the right and the blue ‘cold’ icon.

Glimmer released a long sigh. The heat and sweaty warmth rolled off her as the frigid water hit her skin. There was something so refreshing about feeling the cold water. It didn’t sting, it didn’t make her skin numb in a bad way, it just felt unnaturally soothing. Sitting on the shower chair, Glimmer let the water fall over her, closing her eyes and leaning against the tiled back of the shower. She could easily stay like this for hours and already felt her body dozing off. The coolness almost reminded her of...

“Are you taking a cold shower? You’re _so_ weird,” Catra's voice cut through the cool haze, forcing Glimmer's eyes back open.

Catra. The cold reminded her of Catra. Of her presence, radiating with easy coolness, of her touch last night - electrifyingly cold at first, but enthralling afterwards, and of her embrace, soothing and cold and bringing Glimmer to _just_ the right temperature.

And finally, most prominently, it reminded Glimmer of those fangs buried into her neck, the chilled numbness spilling out from her bite. Reflexively, she reached a hand up and rubbed the skin around the two bite marks. It sent a shiver down her side and back and that familiar lightheadedness flooded her mind.

Glimmer barely managed to squeak out a response, “Y-Ya, I just woke up super hot.”

“You’re hot everyday Sparkles,” Catra teased without hesitation and the cold water suddenly felt too warm again. That was the exact thing Glimmer did not need to hear right now. “I left your clothes on the toilet for when you’re done.”

Catra closed the door and left before Glimmer could think of a response. Belatedly, and mostly for her own benefit, Glimmer grumbled, “You’re the worst!”

“But you like my worst!” Catra’s voice carried over the door and shower. How did she even hear that? Stupid vampires.

Letting out another sigh, this one much less relaxing, Glimmer began going through the motions of washing her hair. Catra flirted like people breathed. Between the two of them, Catra’s banter had only been laced with flirty teasing after they had stopped fighting. So it was technically nothing new, meaning whatever _that_ was didn’t mean anything.

Wait, did Glimmer want it to mean something?

Glimmer moved on to washing her body as she sat in the silent noise of her own thoughts. The answer was no, right? This was Catra - annoying asshole of a friend, the kind that left Glimmer on read just for shits. The kind of person who bartends at house parties just to show off and be the center of attention. Someone who remembered stupid little details about Glimmer just to through back in her face months later when she least expected it. Who would even remember that Glimmer liked limited edition strawberry gummies from this one candy store two hours outside the city?

Ugh, she could almost see Catra's face when Glimmer opened the present. They were all doing a secret winter gift exchange that year and Catra looked so stupidly proud and smug when Glimmer was speechless for a whole minute - they hadn’t been to that store in months, how could she have even gotten there? Catra didn’t have a car.

And _then,_ the following year, when Glimmer somehow got Catra for the gift exchange, and Glimmer had _maybe_ forgotten to get a present until the last minute because she was mad that they always seemed to get each other.

And that painfully frustrating ‘Poor Kitten’ face Catra made when she saw the dumb cat charm Glimmer bought at a supermarket. And of course Catra just had to rub it in, “I get you the best present ever and all you get me is this lame gift, disappointing Sparkles.” The magicat had tried to play it off like she didn’t care, but Glimmer knew it had really hurt her.

And maybe Glimmer went a _little_ overboard in trying to find her a better gift because she felt so bad about it and went and bought Catra a custom motorcycle helmet with space for her ears built in and little gold and blue decals that _exactly_ matched the color of her eyes. Catra didn’t even have a motorcycle, but she’d been talking about it for a while and that small, genuine smile and way her eyes lit up when she got it - how was she that cute?

“Shit.” Glimmer mumbled. By the time she had finished washing her body, her skin was almost raw from how hard she’d been scrubbing. Rinsing off quickly, she stepped out of the shower and began to dry off.

So just _maybe_ Glimmer thought Catra was cute. Sometimes.

But Catra didn’t mean anything by her flirting. All she wanted from Glimmer was just her blood, right? It’s not like it even mattered that it was Glimmer’s blood. Glimmer stared down at her neatly folded and washed clothes on top of the toilet and the wrinkled black ‘Fuck Off’ shirt next to them. Well there was one way to find out. She’d get no points for directness by trying to flirt back, but subtlety would at least lessen the impact of Catra’s rejection. So why not?

Glimmer completed her post shower ritual and slipped into her salmon leggings from the night before. Instead of putting on her own shirt - it was a BI Pride shirt she bought a year or two ago, which honestly should’ve sent the same message - she grabbed the ‘Fuck Off’ shirt and pulled it over her head, tucking the front into her leggings.

Looking herself over in the mirror, Glimmer gave herself a proud smirk of approval. Normally she would have gone for more sparkles and color in her outfits - she got the nickname for a reason, afterall. At least her hair was fine, quickly blow dried and thrown to one side to show off her undercut. There was a certain appeal to the disheveled barely put together look. And besides, that was half of Catra’s outfits anyway, so she would probably appreciate Glimmer sporting the same aesthetic.

As Glimmer reached for the door handle to leave the bathroom, her confidence began to slowly leak away as the doubts she’d pushed down began to resurface. Did Catra even want to continue being friends? Or feeding? She had run away this morning, even before Glimmer had woken up, maybe the vampire was hoping Glimmer would just leave?

“Nope, not listening to you,” she said to herself. Hopefully Catra hadn’t heard that. Glimmer stepped out into the living room and called out, louder, “all done!”

✦✦✦

In the time she was away, the main room of the apartment had been transformed. Each window had at least one blanket, towel, or bed sheet covering the entire frame. They were held up by duct tape, tacs, and various sizes of safety pins. Aesthetically it was a terrible mess of bland beiges and blues of the sheets and blankets mixed with the darker blacks, purples, and reds of the towels. But janky look aside, it had the intended effect - the entire room was cast in darkness and shadows. The only light that remained came from a lamp in the bedroom and the bathroom lights behind Glimmer.

Catra herself was crouching on the kitchen counter, putting the last pin in the throw-over blanket that Glimmer had used the night before into the kitchen window. She hissed and cursed under her breath when the pin slipped and sunlight spilled in through the blinds.

“I think you need some blackout curtains,” Glimmer laughed, walking further into the barely lit room.

“If you think this is bad, you should have seen me in the laundry room,” Catra said, hopping down from the counter when she was done. Her feet hit the floor with barely a sound. “I was wrapped in half these blankets.”

Did she always move that quietly? Glimmer briefly wondered. She wasn’t sure if this was a side effect of being a vampire or a magicat. Or maybe both. Either way, it was a little unnerving and a lot impressive. That wasn’t the only thing different about Catra. Maybe it was the dim light that she seemed to so easily fit into, but there was something distinctly haunting about her features that hadn’t been there before - not even last night.

Glimmer couldn’t put her finger on what exactly had changed - maybe it was Catra’s height, just a little taller and more imposing than she remembered. Or maybe it was her muscles - the hint of her biceps’ definition peeking out from under her fur or her toned stomach from under the hem of her cropped “Wildcat” shirt. Was she always that ripped? Glimmer was reminded of their conversation last night and just how much raw power Catra had been holding back, even when she slammed the door in Glimmer’s face.

Not everything was different though. Her short but wild mane of black and brown hair still outlined those incredibly soft just-want-to-pet-them ears. But her face was sharper and more defined. And her eyes. Already striking, the blue and gold irises stood out against the paler than normal whites. In the dim light, they practically glowed.

Overall, vampire wasn’t a bad look on her, Glimmer begrudgingly decided.

“I wish I had a picture,” Glimmer said, not sure to which she was referring - the Catra before her or the one from the laundry room. Remembering her original motivation, Glimmer walked over to the back of the couch, leaning against it and making sure she was facing Catra.

The vampire’s eyes flicked down to the borrowed shirt and then back up, a single eyebrow slowly raising. Glimmer did absolutely nothing to contain her smirk as the look of recognition slowly sank into Catra’s face. Yet, Catra said nothing and Glimmer’s confidence almost entirely deflated. Was she upset at Glimmer? Did Catra hate that she was still wearing her shirt?

After a short but obvious silence, Glimmer asked, “W-Want to order some food? You already ate, but I’m starving.” Was Glimmer using food as an excuse to spend time with Catra and not be kicked out of the apartment? Yes.

“Don’t you have work?” Catra questioned, walking around the kitchen island and sitting down on the couch. There was nothing in her voice to tell Glimmer what she was thinking.

After fidgeting for a moment in place, Glimmer joined her on the couch, sitting at the other end.

“Not on Thursdays and Fridays - I have messed up weeks.” Glimmer said like she wasn’t a foot away from touching Catra and getting to feel that pleasant chill again.

“You still work at that SVC Pharmacy?” Catra asked.

It seemed like she was being polite more than actually interested. Nonetheless, Glimmer responded, “No, I quit like a month ago. I finally got a lab job at Brite Biotech; they just have me working weird hours and weekends.”

“Isn’t that the company your mom owns?”

“I mean, ya. But, I’d like to think that the two times I’ve been rejected for different positions means that I actually got in on my own merit,” Glimmer said. She hadn’t even told her mom about the second and third times she had applied.

“Whatever you say princess.” Catra laughed to herself when the nickname got its predictable rise from Glimmer.

“I literally don’t work in the same building as her,” Glimmer huffed. “And it’s not like I’m going to inherit shit anyway.” Her mom had made that last point _especially_ clear during their last argument - it was the day after Glimmer was hired. Apparently it was only then that one of her subordinates had informed Angella that they had hired her daughter. Glimmer ignored _that_ frustration to focus on the one in front of her instead.

Catra seemed to be mostly listening to the conversation. But, every so often, her eyes would drift down to Glimmer’s chest, staring into her. Glimmer suspected that the vampire was staring at her heartbeat again, maybe even debating what its elevated pace meant. Glimmer almost laughed at that - despite Catra being a ‘terrifying creature of the night’ - claws, fangs, and all - she still had little tells like anyone else. It was pretty endearing, if Glimmer was being honest.

“Huh, didn’t know that,” Catra replied, a genuine note to her voice for once. “And weren’t you going to order food? Where did you have in mind?”

Right, that’s what they were talking about originally. “I don’t really care, probably Burger Queen - I saw one pretty close on the drive over.” Glimmer said, already pulling out her phone and tapping through the ordering app.

After a moment of tapping out her order, she looked back up. Catra, who had apparently been staring at her, instantly turned her head away, finding a point on the wall to look at instead. She was clearly nervous, right? Why wouldn’t she say anything about the shirt?

Glimmer leaned over, placing her hand on Catra’s shoulder, “You wanna…”

Before she could get another word in, Catra recoiled at the touch and battered Glimmer’s arm away with one of her claws. The vampire was instantly in a crouching position, feet digging into the couch cushions and arms tensed. Her eyes, which had been striking and glowing before were narrowed and threatening now. Catra glared at Glimmer like she might just throw her out of the apartment right then and there.

Glimmer pulled her hand back, breaking her gaze away and finding her own spot on the wall to stare at. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

Catra - already partly up - stood up fully and moved to the comfy chair adjacent to the sofa, putting more distance between them. From the occasional glance Glimmer stole from her direction, it didn’t look like she relaxed much, but the ferocity in her eyes was gone at least.

Now Glimmer had really fucked up, she thought with a groan. She felt like screaming into a pillow. Of course Catra hated surprise touch - Glimmer should have known. Ugh. Maybe this was why they were never close before - one of them always fucking something up, not talking to each other for weeks or until a friend convinced them otherwise. Part of Glimmer just wanted to leave, give up on talking to Catra altogether and whatever this stupid crush she had for the vampire was. It’s not like Catra would stop her if she did.

A low grumble from Glimmer’s stomach brought her attention back to the awkward silence of the room. After a minute or so, she decided to broach a question, You don’t want anything, right? To eat, I mean.”

“Wha- nah. It’ll all taste like shit.” Catra said flatly.

“Mkay.” Glimmer said, finalizing the order and putting in Catra’s address.

The two of them sat there - silence filling the dim room as Catra stared back at the wall and Glimmer at her phone. This atmosphere was _so_ much more awkward than last night. At least Catra was talking to her then, even if she was scared about feeding. To be fair, Glimmer had added more nerves to the situation with her stupid stunt, not to mention her own concerns and worries that were piling up. Neither were helping ease the tension in the room.

When she finally got tired of pretending to scroll through social media - it was a lot less fun watching cat videos when she couldn’t turn the sound on - Glimmer looked back up. Catra was still there on the comfy chair - arms and legs crossed, scowl on her face, and gaze on the wall.

Glimmer didn’t want to leave - to run away, to scream in frustration, but never actually work anything out between them. Maybe they’d never be easy friends like she was with Bow or Catra with Adora - it always felt like those relationships never took any work, they were effortless and comfortable. Maybe things would always be difficult between her and Catra. But that didn’t mean that Glimmer couldn’t try.

“You, ah - you doing ok?” She asked, a little too quiet.

“Just fine Sparkles,” Catra replied dismissively.

Ok, so maybe the subtle approach wasn’t working - for either of them. Glimmer wished she could just jump into Catra’s lap to make her point, but that clearly wasn’t going to work. How much more direct could she be? Glimmer didn’t know where to begin.

Thankfully, Catra saved her from thinking about what to say next, “Why did you even come, Sparkles?” Catra finally turned toward Glimmer, knees tucked in and tail wrapped around. Her eyes would have been half-lidded if not for the scowl still on her face.

Why had Glimmer come over? Why had she woken up in the middle of the night, rushed out of her apartment, and ran three red lights? As of yesterday, Glimmer would have said that she hadn’t the faintest clue. Now, though, she might have had an idea of why. Briefly, she wondered if the sparring and all the teasing banter she leveled at Catra from before should have given her a hint.

When did she even start liking Catra anyway? Glimmer didn’t have to think for long - the memory of her and Catra, both leaning over Adora’s hospital bed came rushing into her mind. It was a few months after their big fight. Adora had broken her leg, for the second time, after a training accident between her and her sister Mara.

Of the several nights during Adora’s stay, Glimmer and Catra would both sneak back in, teleporting into Adora’s room, and dodging nurses just to make sure that she didn’t have to sleep alone in the hospital. At first it was a competition - who cared about Adora more? But that all changed when Glimmer saw how soft and caring Catra acted around the bedridden blonde - no bravado, no smugness, all concern. She’d never seen Catra act like that before. Glimmer looked for those little moments whenever they were together after that - each time she saw that soft side of Catra, it put a fond smile on her face.

How was Glimmer supposed to convey all that in a single answer? With honesty, she supposed, giving it her best shot, “I wanted to help. We’re friends, right?” She didn’t mean to say the last part as a question, but the fierce stare from those blue and gold eyes ebbed her confidence away.

“So it was just obligation?” Catra spat.

“No, I just…” Glimmer trailed off, breaking eye contact as she tried to think of a follow-up.

“You just what? Came over because Adora made you?” Catra’s voice climbed higher, as did her arms, now gesturing around her in frustration. Glimmer didn’t miss the fact that her claws were fully extended.

“Why are you bringing Adora up? You needed help and _I_ wanted to help you.” Glimmer put as much emphasis into it as she could, not sure what else to say to defuse the situation.

“I don’t need your fucking pity!” Catra said, bolting to her feet, tail swishing angrily behind her. She began pacing behind the coffee table.

A low growl emanated from the vampire as she paced, sending a shiver down Glimmer’s spine. Catra immediately noticed, stopping her pacing for a moment to glare at Glimmer with a look that was equal parts disgust and frustration. She continued pacing a moment later.

How had it come to arguing? They had such a good record for no arguments in the past months. This was the last thing Glimmer had wanted. Why couldn’t Catra just give her a moment to think? Glimmer felt her fists clench as she rubbed aggressively at her temples.

“Why di-” Catra began before Glimmer cut her off.

“Will you just shut up and listen!? Ugh! Why are you being so weird about this?” Glimmer huffed. It wasn’t really what she meant to go with, but the building frustration didn’t let her think of a better response.

“Because this whole thing is weird and fucked up!” Catra yelled.

Glimmer could do little to keep her voice from rising along with Catra’s. Why couldn’t they just talk things out like last night? “What’s wrong with liking food? You need to eat!” She exclaimed.

Catra had crossed the distance between them in a flash, firmly latching onto Glimmer’s arm. “This is different! Drinking blood is fucked up and dangerous. This could get you killed - both of us killed.”

If the sudden movement hadn’t startled Glimmer, the claws digging into her skin certainly had. She tried to jerk her hand back, but it barely moved at all. Catra instantly noticed the skip of Glimmer’s heart, but instead of backing off as Glimmer expected, she pressed further, leaning over Glimmer and putting more of her weight behind the hold.

“Neither of us know anything about how to do this,” Catra hissed. “What happens if I need more blood next time? Huh? What if this kills you?” She shook Glimmer’s arm for emphasis, the claws digging in further. “You ever think of that?”

Glimmer winced at the pain. Part of her wanted to teleport away, but she couldn’t summon the energy - the sharp clarity of sparring or combat was one thing, but this… this was entirely different. Glimmer could barely move a muscle, every part of her felt locked in place by the vampire’s otherworldly strength. And even then Catra was barely flexing at all - this wasn’t even all her power.

Following the arm to its source, Glimmer looked up at the vampire and her panic grew. Blood-tinged eyes glared down at her, the blue and gold muted by a sea of red. The haunting features Glimmer had found so alluring before were now far more alarming.

Glimmer’s mind flashed to all the other times Catra had bared her strength. What if she hadn’t held back? How many times did Glimmer put herself in danger by being near the vampire?

“C-Catra… you’re hurting me,” Glimmer barely managed a whisper.

Catra blinked once and immediately released Glimmer’s hand, stumbling backwards and nearly falling over the coffee table. Her eyes instantly returned to their normal vibrancy as she stared between her hand and Glimmer. Her mouth hung open and her hand shook as the realization hit her.

Glimmer pulled her shirt over her knees and sunk further into the couch. They stayed that way for a while. Catra hadn’t moved any closer, instead she slumped against the wall, quivering all over. Glimmer fell against the armrest of the couch, rubbing at the scratch marks on her arm and carefully watching the vampire out of the corner of her eye.

The look of horror and disgust that Catra was looking at herself with gave Glimmer a strange sense of relief. Maybe it was messed up to take comfort in seeing someone else so visibly distressed, but Glimmer couldn’t help but be relieved by it. Catra hadn’t meant to hurt her and even though she had, the vampire had paid dearly for it.

The nagging voice telling Glimmer that now was her chance to run was slowly droned out as a stubborn fire began to well up within Glimmer. If either of them ran away right now, neither of them would deal with this for months. She wouldn’t let Catra off that easy.

And sure, Glimmer had messed up too, but that didn’t make Catra’s response alright. On top of that, there was definitely a part of Glimmer that hated the way Catra was looking at herself right now. It made Glimmer want to hold her and tell her that everything would be ok.

Was that a weird thought to have after what happened? Maybe. Should she talk to a therapist about this? Yes. Honestly, they both should at this point. Did vampire therapists exist? Another thought for later.

After several minutes of heavy breathing, it occurred to Glimmer that Catra - in her vampiric fervor - had implied that there’d be a next time to their feeding. From a practical perspective, Catra would need more blood - probably for the rest of her life. But the vampire had basically just insinuated that Glimmer would be her donor. Did Glimmer want to keep giving Catra her blood? Glimmer’s fight or flight response, said no - she’d be crazy to want to keep going. But yet again, Glimmer’s stubbornness won out.

Taking a deep breath, Glimmer focused back on the two of them. Still in a shaky voice, she finally responded to Catra’s question, “We know what to expect the next time we feed. We’ll be ok.”

Catra looked up, blinking a few times as she processed the statement. Her ears dropped further down and she pulled into her own curled up ball, tail wrapped around her legs. “Are you stupid? Y-You still want to keep doing this?”

“Yes?” Glimmer replied. Glimmer held onto that burning stubbornness to push out the thoughts of how weird this conversation felt - she definitely should be more scared then she was acting. More confidently, Glimmer added, “Yes.”

Glimmer watched as the vampire’s mouth opened and closed several times, trying and failing to form words. Glimmer really needed a response of something, anything, to know what Catra was thinking or how she felt about all this.

“I-” Catra began before she was interrupted by Glimmer’s ringtone.

Glimmer looked down to the device clutched in her hand, “Foods here.” She looked back up to Catra to see if she was going to continue, but Catra flicked her hand toward the phone, burying her head into her lap.

Sighing, Glimmer answered the call and went downstairs to get her order.

✦✦✦

Glimmer returned with her food after a little while. Her order was waiting for her downstairs, but she took some extra time to cool off in the fall air. Apparently her heart had been racing faster than she thought and she didn’t relish the thought of Catra seeing her elevated pulse. At least, not until they had talked about what happened.

It was well past two in the afternoon at this point and smelling the food on the elevator ride up had reminded Glimmer that she hadn’t eaten all day. Maybe shoving the fast food down her throat would make talking easier.

When she did return to the apartment, Glimmer didn’t even need to knock on the front door - she just pushed it open, barely twisting the handle at all. Glimmer figured that the soft creek of the door was loud enough to announce her presence to the vampire. Closing the door behind her, Glimmer blinked her eyes a few times to re-adjust to the dim light.

Catra was no longer in the corner, slumped over against the wall. Glimmer didn’t see where the vampire had gone, so she sat down at the kitchen table, pulling out her meal and diving into the hamburger and onion rings.

A moment later, Catra appeared from the bedroom looking like she had splashed water on her face. She sat across from Glimmer at the table. It eased Glimmer’s remaining nerves to see that Catra had also taken the extra time to calm down.

When Catra made no motion to talk, Glimmer kept on eating. The vampire’s gaze fell to the greasy food, casually watching Glimmer eat.

“I miss food already.” Catra said with a heavy sigh.

“Is my blood not good enough for you?” Glimmer lightly joked in between bites. Testing the waters with banter seemed like a safe enough idea.

Catra picked up on her tone and mirrored it. “Oh it’s plenty good.” Catra said, but the twinkle at the corner of her eyes made it sound like the understatement of the century. “Really sweet, but that’s not surprising for you, Sparkles.”

“Aww thanks,” Glimmer said with a full mouth, just for the look of mock disgust that Catra made. Food and banter was definitely a good choice. “I’m happy to eat your favorite foods in front of you and tell you what you’re missing.”

“I know you’re trying to fuck with me, but honestly, that sounds kinda nice.” Catra said, rubbing at her chin to mull it over. “I might take you up on that some time.”

“Who knows, maybe it’ll make my blood taste different,” Glimmer was too amused by Catra’s genuine interest to realize that she might have just soured the mood again. Oh well, they had to talk about it eventually.

Predictably, Catra fell silent, staring at her claw that she was dragging across the laminated wood of the table. Glimmer could see the gears turning in Catra’s head as she thought of what to say. As much as Glimmer might have wanted to add something, she had already voiced her opinion, it was time for Catra to do the same.

“Why?” The vampire quietly asked.

“Why what?” Glimmer asked, wiping her face with a napkin. She suspected that she knew the answer, but wanted at least another moment to think of a response.

Catra gave her a look like she knew what Glimmer was up to before elaborating, “Why do you want to keep feeding with me?”

So much for getting anything out of her. Glimmer sighed, but responded anyway, “We both enjoyed it right?” She balled up all her trash from the fast food and pushed it to the other side of the table, leaving open space between the two of them.

“What, you liked almost dying?” Despite the harsh words, Catra’s tone was way more nervous than threatening. “I-I almost killed you.”

“What are you talking about Catra?” Glimmer narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over the table. Did she not remember something that happened last night? Blood loss and the high of it made her dizzy, sure, but nothing was coming to mind that would change her opinion.

“I thought I took too much. Y-You, kinda passed out for a bit.” Catra’s gaze had returned and her ears flopped awkwardly - one partially up, the other all the way down.

“Oh. Um…” Glimmer started. One of her hands went to trace the outline of the bite marks. She forgot about what had happened last time she did that, and the spike of cool numbness that flooded her system again did not go unnoticed by Catra. “I, ah, I don’t think that was from blood loss.”

“Oh.”

Catra’s eyes went wide and she repeated her exclamation a few times before adding, “I, uh, kinda felt the same way. The rush, I mean.”

“So… you did like it?” Glimmer hesitantly asked. At least to Glimmer’s mind, there was a difference between getting high because you had to in order to survive and actually enjoying the process.

“I mean…” Catra began, her voice was barely a whisper. Her mouth had contorted into a worried line and she rubbed at one of her temples with a hand. “Isn’t it weird? I hate the feeling that I... actually enjoyed drinking blood. Your blood.”

“I don’t regret giving you my blood, Catra.” Glimmer reassured. She had come to this conclusion while sitting in the hallway, food in hand. “Like I told you last night, I’m not some victim you attacked, I did it willingly.” Food was definitely helping, Glimmer thought. She made a mental note not to have big conversations on an empty stomach.

She paused for a moment, leaving room for Catra to respond. Catra still hadn’t met her gaze; it was lingering on the claw marks. They looked like a little hash mark pattern, like the vampire was playing tiny tic-tac-toe with herself.

A selfish part of Glimmer wanted Catra to look at her, to respond, or to do something, but Glimmer pushed that thought away. She’d already messed up by trying to force Catra to respond the way _Glimmer_ wanted her to. Instead, she continued, “Is it that hard to see that someone can like you and want to help you for who you are and not what you are?”

There was that hurt kitten look again, plastered all over Catra’s face and in her sullen ears. She had even stopped scratching at the table, crossing her arms and sinking downward. Just like last night, Glimmer wanted nothing more than to reach out and make it better. But, that was how she dealt with pain - lots of physical affection and, if it was available, lots of candy.

So she waited.

Catra was silent for a while. Glimmer watched her brow furrow and release every so often as a thought passed through Catra’s mind. Sometimes her mouth would mumble incoherent words or her tail would curl in a new direction. She never looked up at Glimmer, but her eyes darkened while she thought.

“Catra?” Glimmer hesitantly whispered. “What are you thinking?”

Running a hand through her hair and pushing the curls that had fallen over her face back, Catra nervously replied, “I’m thinking I wanna run as far from here as I can and that I don’t deserve you, ha.”

“Well that’s bullshit - you don’t get to decide what I deserve.” Glimmer said flatly. “And I’ll punch anyone who says otherwise, including you.” To illustrate her point, Glimmer raised a balled fist, conjuring purple and pink light. She didn’t aim it at Catra, but it certainly caught the vampire’s eye.

“Wow, you are _terrible_ at this consoling thing,” Catra laughed so hard, she ended up clutching her stomach, bent over slightly. A handful of tears were falling from her face and Catra half collapsed onto the table

Glimmer let the light die out from her fist before saying, “Oh, really? ‘Cuz it seems like it’s working.” 

Glimmer waited for Catra’s cry-laugh to die down before saying more. Eventually, Catra pulled herself back up into her seat and met Glimmer’s eyes. Gone was the pained and hurt expression from before. Now, Catra’s gold and blue eyes shown with their usual mirth and a touch of something approaching softness. There was even a small smile forming at the corners of her mouth. It was so genuine and cute, and it reminded Glimmer of the first time she had seen that look, when it was the three of them in that hospital.

At this point, all the built up worry over her own feelings and her concerns about Catra had solidified into a single question. If she was being honest, the question had been on her mind for a while. She had been fretting about how to phrase it in the hallway, but even before that, the question had been forming since she woke up this morning, even if she didn’t know it at the time.

The look on Catra’s face gave Glimmer the last bit of confidence she needed. She took a deep breath and blurted it out all before she could doubt herself again.

“Can I please hug you?”

The half-smile on Catra’s face dropped instantly. Her ears and tail were still, her eyes just blinking repeatedly. Glimmer couldn’t make out anything from the blank look on the vampire’s face. Was that a no? Did Glimmer ask the wrong thing?

Glimmer felt her body tense up as she focused in on all the ways Catra wasn’t moving or saying anything. What if Catra didn’t want anything more than Glimmer’s blood? Had Glimmer just ruined their friendship? Maybe Catra hadn’t heard her properly or thought she said something else? What if this was still too much after what happened earlier today. Should she have given Catra more time?

All the questions and thoughts raced in Glimmer’s head. She was so caught up in her own nerves that she almost missed the flash of movement from the other side of the table.

Without a word, Glimmer was enveloped in Catra’s arms. A shock of cold rocketed through every point of their contact and suddenly all her questions and ‘what ifs’ felt so far away. The initial freezing onslaught slowly eased, replaced with the vampire’s cool aura. Glimmer would never get tired of that feeling - it was better than turning on the A/C for the first time during summer or even her cold shower from earlier. 

When the two of them had collided, Glimmer was nearly pulled off the stool by the force and surprise of it, but it didn’t matter. Catra’s arms held her from falling over - all the vampire’s strength going into holding Glimmer and bringing them closer. Every part of Glimmer relaxed into the chill embrace. She snaked her arms around the vampire’s waist and tried to pull them even closer.

With the awkward angle she was at, Glimmer’s face was right at Catra’s stomach, just below the hem of her shirt. She was expecting Catra’s fur to be rough or maybe even ticklish, but it was none of those things. Her fur was just the right combination of soft and textured and Glimmer nuzzled her face into as much of it as she could.

“You could have asked for this earlier.” Catra lightly teased and Glimmer felt the gentle vibrations of Catra’s voice against her head.

“Shut up, don’t ruin the moment.” Glimmer murmured, still buried in Catra’s arms and not planning to leave at any point. As if this moment could actually be ruined. 

Glimmer inhaled softly and finally got to take in Catra’s sent: the vampire smelled of a lot of things. A bit of sweat and the hint of something metallic - likely blood, _her_ blood - was the first thing that Glimmer could place. Below that, there were various smells of different alcohols, and maybe even old cologne? But there was something else there, something nearly masked by all the others. When Glimmer realized what it was, she almost giggled: Catra smelled like cat. Not any particular one and it wasn’t overwhelming or stinky - it was... distinctive and as far as Glimmer could tell, wholly unique to Catra.

After taking a moment to enjoy her discovery, Glimmer asked, “Couch?” Her back was starting to hurt from the angle but she didn’t want to let go just yet.

“Um, sure.” Catra slowly nodded into their embrace before beginning to detangle herself from Glimmer.

But Glimmer had another idea. Squeezing tighter and putting more of her weight into Catra, the two began to fall off the stool and toward the ground. Just then, Glimmer pulled at the energy around them and they blinked out of existence with a _pop_ and a cascade of sparkling, twinkling lights.

...Only to reappear on the couch, Catra still beneath her, as the two landed with a soft thud against the cushions. Glimmer used the vampire’s momentary confusion to snuggle closer. With Catra sprawled out on her back and head leaned against the headrest, Glimmer scooted up to place her head in the crook of Catra’s shoulder and wrapped her arms tighter around her torso.

“Do you always pull stunts like that?” Catra asked, the slur of dizziness still coloring her words.

Glimmer briefly feared that she’d gone too far - Catra had never been a big fan of getting teleported. But right then, Glimmer felt a solid but furry pressesence on her leg as Catra’s tail tangled itself on her. Oh, that was definitely a good sign. She sighed into the feeling of the extra pressure on her leg.

“Only with stupid jerk vampires who can’t take a hint,” Glimmer teased. She pushed the short sleeve of Catra’s shirt up with her nose and nuzzled into the fur of the vampire’s shoulder.

Glimmer felt a bit of warmth bloom near her face. When she looked over, still half buried in Catra’s shoulder, she found the source of the heat: Catra’s face. Her blush just barely highlighting her freckles across her nose and cheeks. She didn’t think vampires could blush at all - whatever blood Catra still had seemed to all be rushing to her face. Glimmer felt her own face heat up when she realized that it was probably her own blood that allowed that to happen.

“I am not that oblivious,” Catra said sternly, but there was little severity in her voice to back it up. “You’re… you’re just hard to read.”

“Catra, I’m wearing _your_ shirt. Still. That you gave me. When I had a perfectly clean shirt of my own.” Glimmer couldn’t help poke fun at the vampire. It was so rare that she ever saw Catra this flustered - most of the time it was the other way around.

“Ya, but after last night… _and_ this afternoon.” Catra said defensively.

Glimmer picked her head up to look into Catra’s eyes - they were a little glassy and pinpricks of tears were beginning to form at the corners. Catra immediately looked away, but instead of pushing Glimmer off her like she feared, Catra hugged her tighter.

“I’m sorry,” Catra blurted out with a sniff. “I-I didn't mean to hurt you - I never did.”

Should Glimmer accept her apology so easily? Maybe, maybe not. But try as she might, Glimmer couldn’t summon any of the anger or emotion from earlier. Being held safely in Catra’s arms might have had an influence on that.

“I know,” Glimmer softly replied. She traced her thumb along the hairs on Catra’s back. “I’m... sorry too. I should’ve asked before I touched you.”

Catra turned her head back to look at Glimmer, blinking a few times as if she didn’t even know what Glimmer was talking about. Glimmer was about to clarify, when Catra said, “Oh. I didn’t… Ya, asking is good.” Catra squeezed her arms to indicate their current embrace.

“Mhmm,” Glimmer nodded into the vampire’s shoulder, returning the squeeze.

They fell into companionable silence, still holding each other as they lay on the couch. Even as Glimmer continued the circuits of her fingers on Catra’s back, she felt a similar pressure on her own. Catra’s touch was firm and slow, almost as if every stroke of her calloused fingers might be her last. If Glimmer had a say, there would be plenty more touches after this.

Even through the shirt, Catra’s hand was soothing and cool. Glimmer listened to the feeling of the pattern the vampire made - little figure-eights against the small of her back, switching directions every so often.

After a little bit, the pressure lifted, and Glimmer pouted into Catra’s shoulder. She felt the shoulder lift some, pulling her attention upward to see Catra’s hand hovering above her head, a silent question in the vampire’s eyes. Glimmer gave an affirmative ‘mhmm’ and felt Catra’s hand begin to drag through her hair, claws extended just enough to scrape gently into her scalp.

Glimmer hummed in delight, rolling her head into the caress and following along the trail of her claws. It probably did nothing to make it easier for Catra, but Glimmer hoped Catra would appreciate her enthusiastic enjoyment nonetheless.

Eventually this too ceased, but the weight of Catra’s hand on her head remained. Glimmer looked up again to see Catra’s eyes were closed and her mouth hanging open. Her face was slack and her ears drooped back - not in pain, but in sleep. It gave Glimmer a shiver of delight that she had this much of a calming effect on the vampire.

Catra must have felt her staring because she opened her eyes with a start.

“Was I sleeping?” She asked sheepishly.

Glimmer nodded. “Does my vampire need a nap?” She had meant the doting tone to be more sarcastic than sincere, but with how relaxed she felt and how cute Catra looked blinking away the sleep, the words had come a _little_ differently.

Despite her worry, Glimmer didn’t miss the little breath Catra took in and how her pupils dilated a fraction at the question. An interesting bit of information that delighted Glimmer - she filed it away to ask about another time.

“And what, you gonna join me?” Catra said it like a dare, but there was a hint of hopefulness in the corner of her eyes.

Glimmer supposed this was as close to a ‘please join me’ as she was going to get right now, so she let it slide. “There’s nowhere else to sleep - my blanket is currently being a window curtain right now.” Glimmer faked a yawn after and winked when Catra eyed her suspiciously.

“Alright, come on,” Catra said, tapping Glimmer’s back twice to tell her to get up.

“I can teleport us, ya know.” Glimmer complained. Why should she have to let go? She wasn’t the one who needed a nap.

“Nooope. I’m good walking.”

“Fine.”

✦✦✦

They both reluctantly got up from the couch and, before heading to the bedroom, silently agreed to clean up the apartment. Glimmer threw out her trash from lunch and organized her clothes and first-aid kit into a pile by her bag while Catra took the time to put a dark green curtain over the bathroom window.

Since Glimmer finished her task first, she waited for Catra by checking her texts. Nothing new. She realized that she never actually responded to Bow’s direct message or the group chat, so she quickly fired off a few texts in apology.

“Shit, I forgot to take my meds this morning,” Catra’s voice came from the bedroom, making Glimmer look up from her phone.

Glimmer walked in and looked around, hoping that familiarity with her surroundings would ease the warmth gathering in her chest. The room was surprisingly spacious - a couple dressers, a closet, a desk, and a bed all fit well enough into the bedroom. None of it was particularly decorated except for a couple of aesthetically pleasing but empty alcohol bottles on the desk. Catra herself was sitting on the edge of her bed, fishing through her nightstand.

"Should you be taking them this late?" Glimmer wondered aloud. Normally her customer service voice would have taken over - lecturing about proper medication habits, taking them with food, etc. But she was a little distracted at the moment and couldn’t form a good joke out of it.

"It's fine, I've messed up my schedule before and my tits haven't fallen off," Catra said, stopping her search to grab her chest for emphasis.

Glimmer snorted. "If you say so." She flopped down on the bed next to Catra. It wasn’t as soft as hers, but she figured she wouldn’t have too much trouble sleeping here. She kicked off her socks and started to bury herself in the blanket. Briefly, Glimmer considered taking her leggings off - it wasn’t usually a good idea to sleep in something so restrictive. Her borrowed shirt was long enough, after all she’d slept in it last night, so it should be fine. That wasn’t too weird, right? She shucked them off under the blanket and threw the leggings off the bed.

“Ugh, these things taste even worse than before.” Catra had popped open the containers and was dry swallowing two pills - one blue, the other a chalky pink.

“You want some blood to wash that down?” Glimmer asked, lifting her arm and wiggling her eyebrows.

Catra stared at her arm for a few seconds before looking back at Glimmer. She pursed her lips like she was holding a thought back. Eventually she said, “Nah, I’ll be fine.”

Glimmer pouted and made a quiet ‘hmph’ sound - she knew she didn’t have to say it too loudly to make sure Catra heard it. She dropped her arm on the bed and waited for Catra to stop choking herself with pills. After she was done, Catra briefly disappeared into the bathroom and came back in shorts and a sleep shirt. Sadly, this one didn’t have any witty graphic on it.

Catra climbed in beside her and said, “Roll over princess. Stop hoggin’ the bed.”

Glimmer blew a raspberry like the adult she was, but obliged and rolled onto her side, facing away from Catra. She felt the vampire flop down next to her and begin to wrap an arm around her before hesitating, waiting to see Glimmer’s reaction. Glimmer pulled the arm the rest of the way around her waist and laced their fingers together.

That was all the invitation Catra needed. Glimmer immediately felt the vampire’s chill presence against her back as Catra nuzzled into her shoulder. A small but pleasant vibration filled the silence in between the ruffling of the sheets. Glimmer smiled to herself when she realized it was Catra’s purr.

“You comfy?” Glimmer murmured, pulling the blanket over them both.

“Ya,” Catra hummed into her back.

As Catra’s breath rolled against her neck, Glimmer let out a sigh. She shimmied further into Catra’s embrace, wiggling and scooting so she was as close to Catra as possible.

Glimmer took a little pride in the fact that the vampire trusted her to see this side of herself. She almost wished she was facing Catra - she wanted to study how she relaxed or what her face looked like when she slept - but the firm embrace she was locked into more than made up for the loss. Whereas earlier, this hold had felt constricting and overwhelming, now it was as soothing and comforting as Glimmer had hoped it would be.

 _Wait_ , something was missing. Glimmer flexed her leg muscles and - sure enough - it wasn’t there. “Tail please.” She asked in a little sing-song voice.

“Mhmm, so needy,” Catra mumbled, sleep heavy in her voice.

Glimmer rolled her eyes, but said nothing else as the growingly familiar feeling of Catra’s tail wrapped around her leg, the tip ending at her knee. Using her free hand, Glimmer gave the tail a few reassuring strokes, eliciting another purr from the vampire.

Glimmer recounted everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours. Cuddling in Catra’s bed wasn’t where she expected to be at the start of this, but she also likely wouldn’t have admitted to wanting this in the first place.

The minutes rolled by and Glimmer began to doze off. But every so often, she’d be jostled awake as Catra pulled her closer or shifted her legs to intertwine them. _And I’m the needy one?_ Glimmer giggled to herself as she gently stroked the fingers her hand was still intertwined with.

Catra never truly stilled, not completely. Glimmer expected to find it annoying but the constant reminder of the vampire’s presence was almost as soothing as her touch. She tried to listen for Catra’s breathing instead, something constant to help Glimmer fall asleep. Yet, even holding her own breath, Glimmer couldn’t hear the sound of Catra’s breath at all. Did vampires even need to breathe? Perhaps not.

But as she lay there, wrapped up in the cuddly vampire, Glimmer began to hear Catra’s other noises. The sound of her tail curling and loosening along Glimmer’s leg - the hairs brushing against her skin gently. The little rasping noises that Catra’s claws made when they scratched against Glimmer’s scalp or pulled against her borrowed shirt. And even the sound the bed made as it shifted to accommodate Catra’s movement in her sleep, always scooting closer to Glimmer, always searching for her while she slept.

It was those noises that finally lulled Glimmer to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: Glimmer and Catra are both ok. They talk about their mistakes and the chapter ends in cuddles.
> 
> I think I ended up cutting a scene and a half from this chapter because it grew to be so long. Whoops! Don’t worry, you’ll get to see it in the coming chapter(s)! And soon we’ll also get to see the full BFS and their dynamics, can’t wait to share that with you!
> 
> Would love to know what you thought in the comments!  
> <3


	3. Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra explores her feelings and makes a change. The BFS reunite and discuss Catra’s vampirism.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh boi, this took so long. Holidays and a coup really threw me for a loop. But here it is. I had so much fun when I actually got down to writing it, so enjoy!
> 
> Thanks to weirdoughnut and helbrosi for giving me the good serotonin to keep working!

As Catra blinked awake that night, she found herself still in her bedroom - right where she fell asleep. _No sleepwalking this time either._ Nothing about the room she was in was different, but she did not remember falling asleep on her back with a mess of cotton-candy pink hair pushed into her face. She didn’t remember falling asleep this _close._

Sparkles.

The weight against her chest as Glimmer slept half draped over her wasn’t entirely uncomfortable - nor was the eerily familiar ‘sparkly sweet’ scent that lingered about her.

Because this was a thing that had happened, that Catra had even _agreed_ to.

The vampire vaguely wondered if it was Glimmer's blood, coursing through her veins, that had made her accept the closeness. As if the blood was trying to return itself through skin contact alone. Just thinking about that contact made Catra suddenly aware of all the points Sparkles was still touching her.

 _Most_ of it was through their clothes.

Except for the arm draped over Catra whose fingers were curled into the fur of her bicep, or the light warmth and easy pressure from where her tail was tucked into the crook of Glimmer's knee, or the brush of Sparkles’ cheek against her collar bone just above the neckline of her shirt. Actually, Catra was pretty sure that Glimmer had pulled her shirt down when she had scooted closer sometime during their nap.

Her skin burned - in an altogether not terrible way - at each and every point. Truthfully, it was the same feeling Catra had when they first fed together, some twisted form of warm and safe.

Maybe that was it, Catra was still hyped up on endorphins and vampire hormones - some distant instinct driving her to protect and coddle the source of her food. There was still the light taste of disgust in her mouth at the idea - like the bitter remnants of the toast she'd tried and failed to eat a few days ago.

But… _it wasn’t all bad._

Since being turned, Catra hadn’t dreamt or remembered sleeping at all. One moment she closed her eyes and when she opened them next it was several hours later - nighttime in this case. Everything changing in the blink of an eye was seriously disorienting the first few times - especially because she’d end up in completely different rooms of her apartment.

But that problem had fixed itself the last two times she’d tried to sleep - the nap just now and right after the feeding yesterday. If Catra was having a particularly honest day - and she supposed she was due her one day for the month - she suspected that the bundle of glitter and pastel in her arms was responsible for fixing that issue.

 _Mhmmm…_ Catra hummed, indulging in a deep breath just for the sake of it. She looked down to see that wasn’t the only thing she was indulging in.

Her free hand - the one not trapped under Sparkles - was absently carding through those same glitter pink locks, claws lightly dragging against Glimmer’s scalp. On top of that, her tail had been doing slow wags against the sheets, even with the end of it still wrapped around Sparkles. She hadn’t even realized she was doing any of it and immediately snapped her hand back and stilled her tail.

A disgruntled _‘Hmph’_ vibrated against her chest as Glimmer shifted and wiggled until her head met Catra's hand again.

 _Guess she doesn't mind._ Slowly, Catra let her body untense as she stared down into Sparkles' hair. She pressed her claws back in and resumed her slow passes, receiving a much more delighted mumble for her efforts.

 _She probably didn’t even wake up_ , Catra laughed quietly to herself. Sure enough, the Glimmer’s peaceful little snores continued a moment later. Catra let a few more moments pass before she freed her tail to continue its contented movements and her thoughts to flow.

Even the instant sleeping and sleepwalking wasn’t _that_ bad. Catra figured it would return at some point - because it wasn’t like Glimmer was always going to be around anyway. At the very least, it had meant no nightmares. Catra shuddered as the images of her time before college flashed through her mind.

“How long have you been awake?” 

Catra felt the vibrations before she heard Glimmer’s voice, raspy, still muddled with sleep, and mumbled into her chest. Glimmer shifted her head enough to look up at Catra through her eyelashes and sleep messed hair.

Catra's breath hitched. For someone who didn’t need to breath, she sure did a lot of it around Sparkles.

Using the hand that was still in Sparkles' hair, Catra brushed away a few locks that were getting in the way of seeing those lilac eyes. It was stupid. Glimmer’s eyes weren’t even that pretty - sleep crusted and barely open enough to see her irises, there was nothing really remarkable about them.

Catra glanced at the clock when she finally remembered that Sparkles had asked her a question - it was well past nine.

“I dunno, I… lost track of the time.” Catra managed.

A louder vibration, this one from lower, caused Catra to snap her gaze away as giggles flooded out from Glimmer - they were light and airy and still had a touch of sleep to their sound. Catra cursed her fluster on her stupid vampire hormones. Whatever, the feeling would probably go away once Catra got some distance to clear her head.

“What.” Catra asked through narrowed eyes.

Glimmer shifted her head to lift her mouth off of Catra’s chest so she could get proper words out. “You‘re kinda cute when you’re flustered.”

Catra felt her ears flick appreciatively up, even as she tried to force her mouth into a hard line. She wasn’t really in the mood for teasing when so many thoughts were rushing through her head. Hoping to end the conversation, Catra said flatly, “Ya, well being a vampire makes me weird.”

“Oh.”

Glimmer got the hint and rolled off Catra to lie flat on her back. Catra’s fur bristled at the rush of cool air that now flooded the space that she left. Instead of focusing on it, she unraveled her tail from where it was wrapped around Sparkles’ knee and freed her hand from under Glimmer. 

“What do you want to do tonight?” Glimmer asked quietly.

“What do you mean? I have work in an hour.” Catra said, sitting up and testing her hand. At least it didn’t feel numb - perks of not having blood there in the first place.

“Oh” Glimmer repeated. Out of the corner of her eye, Catra could see the hard set pout on Sparkles’ features. "Can I drive you to work at least?"

Catra needed to talk to her boss anyway, so getting there a bit early _would_ be helpful. The company might help her keep her mind off going into work as a vampire. Technically, she had done so once already, but that thirty minute shift hardly counted.

"Sure.” Catra agreed.

As they got ready to leave, Catra debated if she should ask for her ‘Fuck Off’ shirt back, but, seeing Sparkles content to walk out the door with it on, she let the thought go.

The ride to the Velvet Glove ended up being short and silent. Glimmer drove them along half-busy roads and under the too bright light of dozens of street lamps and stop lights.

Normally, Catra might have enjoyed the moment to herself - but it the silence of the ride her mind was free to think and it firmly settled onto work at the bar. Would anyone know that she was a vampire? Would they care if they did?

The end of her tail flicked out a pattern against the car seat as Catra worked out what she’d say if anyone called her out. She was _pretty_ sure that she wouldn’t be fired - Hordak hadn’t cared that she was a magicat and they had plenty of other hybrids on staff. But that didn’t mean some customer wouldn’t be an ass about it if given the opportunity.

“We’re here,” Glimmer said flatly after they had been parked for a minute or so.

Several cars passed them on the road, making Catra squint her eyes as each of their headlights passed them. Sparkles turned towards her, then back to the road. Her hands were flexing on the steering wheel and nearly going white. The vampire could smell the awkward tension rolling off of Sparkles. It only occurred to her then that the entire silent trip might have meant something else to Glimmer.

“Just say it, Sparkles.” Catra said.

“It’s nothing,” Glimmer squeaked out.

Catra let a moment pass by in case Sparkles changed her mind, but when she didn’t, the vampire sighed and said. “Alright. See you Saturday.”

✦✦✦

Catra stepped into the Velvet Glove just before 10pm and the start of her shift. The bar wasn’t too busy for a Thursday night, so hopefully her first shift back wouldn’t be too stressful. Tonight, Scorpia and Lonnie were set to close with her - if Catra remembered the schedule right. That would make things easier, rather than working alongside employees she knew less well.

The only other matter was when she should talk to her boss. As much as she was dreading a conversation, it’d probably be best to get it out of the way early and that was why she’d gotten here early in the first place.

Catra’s eyes scanned the bar. Technically the fastest way to get to the office was through the crowd and tables, but the thought of being close to a bunch of strangers made her fur crawl. If she was lucky, she could just work behind the bar all night and have someone else walk the drinks out. There’d be less tips in it for her, but Catra could live with that if it meant dealing with people’s scents less.

So instead, Catra took the long way round, sliding under the bar and behind the counter. She gave a wave to Lonnie who was out on the floor and received a curt nod in return. Catra was making her way past the kitchen doors when they flew upon, nearly hitting her in the face but for a quick dodge.

“Oh, hey Wildcat!” Scorpia called out, too joyful for someone halfway through a double shift on a Thursday. She was coming from the kitchen with a serving tray, and by the looks of it, aiming to give Catra a hug.

Normally Scorpia's hugs ranged from mildly uncomfortable to downright annoying, usually depending on Catra’s mood and whether she was enveloped in one or two pincers. Something about today made it skew to the latter - and Catra wasn’t even in a bad mood.

In the half a second before Scropia made contact, arms extended and a smile brimming on her face, Catra darted out of the way. She put her hands up to ward off any future attempts.

“No hugs, remember?” Catra said. At least her voice was steady.

Even above the smell of alcohol and sweat from the rest of the bar, Catra picked up Scorpia’s scent - it was musty and sweaty from her shift, but also coated in the overpowering body sprays and deodorants that she always used. Something about the smell just didn’t sit right with Catra.

“Oh, sorry! Right! I was just so worried since I heard you were out sick yesterday.” Scorpia said, switching the tray from one pincer to the other. It was one of the stemmed serving trays that Hordak had built for her - her claw could hold onto the stem attached perpendicularly to the bottom, leaving the tray part to balance on the flat part of her pincer.

“Ya, sure. Thanks for worrying or whatever.” Catra said, slowly lowering her arms and hackles when it was clear that Scorpia wasn’t going to try again. At least her coworker didn’t seem to notice anything different about Catra.

“So you feeling better?” Scopria asked.

“Ya, I guess.” Catra replied, scanning across the room to see if anyone was glaring at her. When there wasn’t anyone that stood out, she absently added, “Other than this headache...”

 _Huh._ That wasn’t there before. The pain at the side of her head was mild and mostly inconvenient - the kind she used to get from staring at a screen for too long or from worrying about where her next paycheck was coming from. It wasn’t anything like the hunger for blood, so it was _probably_ less concerning. _Speaking of which._

“Scorp, is the boss in tonight?” Catra asked.

Scorpia had set to making a few drinks and getting them set on her stemmed tray. She looked up from her work and nodded, “Ya, he’s up in the office. Been there all day.”

“Thanks.” Catra said, turning to head for the closed off employee only stairs in the back of the bar.

“Glad you’re feeling better!” Scopria called after her.

Catra waved a thanks as she snaked her way through an unavoidable section of tables and patrons - avoiding both with as much space as she could manage. In the back, behind the hallway for the bathrooms and near the secondary kitchen entrance, the staircase to the ‘office’ loomed in front of her.

It was only technically an office - it also doubled as Hordak’s living space and was connected to the actual apartment he lived in. Every time Catra was there, it felt like she was violating her boss’ personal boundaries - she couldn’t understand how he let people so close to his private life.

Hordak and Catra were... just two people who shouldn’t be allowed to talk to each other. He was a shut in that liked to build things for his employees and live vicariously through owning a bar and she was a snarky disaster that ran her mouth too often and was halfway decent at mixing drinks. They just weren’t compatible, even as employee and boss. Sooner or later one of them would say something and the whole conversation would end awkwardly.

But, Catra was scheduled for a day/afternoon shift tomorrow and the next couple of days - so she had little choice but to talk to him to get herself rescheduled back to nights.

Sighing, and mustering as much energy as she could, Catra knocked on the door at the top of the stairs.

“Enter.” Hordak’s voice called out even over the din of the bar below.

Catra opened the door - it was always unlocked during business hours, part of Hordak’s ‘open door policy’ - and walked inside. The room had changed little in the time since Catra had last voluntarily stepped into the office. Hordak still sat at his “L” shaped desk and workbench, surrounded by shelves and drawers of tools. He was working on something now, the noise filtering earpiece that Rogelio usually wore by the look of it.

Behind him, a large black curtain was pulled to split the room in half. Catra had only seen the curtain drawn back once - the other half had been full of half built contraptions, broken but supposedly repairable parts, and technically enough furniture to constitute a living room. From the smell of the room - oil, grease, metal, sweat - it was probably the same still.

Hordak lived in this cramped one bedroom apartment with his partner, Entrapta. She was a doctor of some kind, but Catra wasn't sure of the details beyond that. She owned and ran a private clinic, but it never seemed busy enough to stay open.

After Hordak’s father had died, he had bequeathed the row of buildings to Hordak and the rest of his siblings. This apartment space was once separate from the bar downstairs, but it had been renovated to connect the two even before Catra started working at the Velvet Glove. Technically, Entrapta’s clinic was in the same row of buildings, so it was probably paid off too.

“Hello, Catra.” Hordak said, voice low. His eyes were narrowed and he over emphasized the syllables in her name. “To what do I owe the honor of this conversation.”

Catra smoothed the fur on her arms down as she reminded herself that the ‘disappointed parent’ tone wasn’t directed at her and was just Hordak’s default way of speaking. Nevertheless, her tail flicked aggressively behind her.

“Schedule change.” Catra blurted out. She took a steading breath but cursed under her breath when she remembered it did nothing for her. “Can you put me on nights for, like... the foreseeable future.”

“Oh?” Hordak carefully placed his tools down and turned to give Catra his full attention - it made her scowl and ears flatten inadvertently. “And why the sudden change?”

“None of your business.” Catra snapped. She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had probably broken a record for how fast she had put her foot in her mouth. “Shit, sorry.”

“My apologies. You are not required to divulge the details of your personal life. I only wished to know if it would make your work here easier.” Hordak replied, steepling his fingers together. Were it anyone else, it would have looked smug and condescending. From what Entrapta had told Catra, this was just his thinking pose.

After a moment Hordak turned wordlessly to one of his three monitors and began typing at it. Presumably he was working on the bar’s schedule, but Catra couldn’t see with the screen turned away from her.

The vampire shuffled on her feet, suddenly unsure of what to do with herself while she waited. Her mind decided for her and began to idly count various things in the room. There were 14 handheld tools neatly arranged on Hordak’s desk - various screwdrivers of different sizes, a dremel with 22 interchangeable heads, and a soldering iron with four sizes of flux. Catra wasn’t sure if he’d acquired more tools recently - she never had the compulsion to count beforehand, but it certainly seemed like there were more tools than the last time she’d visited the office.

“Very well, I have made the necessary changes.” Hordak said after turning back to her, hands in the same disconcerting position. “Based on the preferences and availability of the other employees, this should be a welcome change.”

That wasn’t _too_ surprising, no one at the bar looked forward to working closing - mopping the floors, cleaning the kitchen by hand. Catra didn’t either but between that and sunlight, there wasn’t much of a choice.

“Great, that’s a relief,” she replied, finding that she meant the words. For the first time since she entered the office, her tail stopped thrashing behind her.

“Will that be all?” Hordak inquired.

Catra wasn’t sure if she did have more to say, but before she could decide, the door to the bar flew open behind her.

“Heeellllllo brother!” One of Hordak’s siblings - Zed by the apron and messy white hair - called out from behind a double tiered platter of miniature food stuffs. They immediately crossed the room and began serving Hordak.

The smells quickly wafted into the room - buttery pastries, various cured or fried meats, and something cinimony. French toast? Catra’s mouth involuntarily scrunched and her shoulder sagged when she remembered she couldn’t have any of it. She found herself thinking that if Sparkles were here she could at least eat the food for Catra and tell her how it was.

Out of all of Hordak’s siblings, Zed was by far the best cook. In addition to being one of the two cooks for the basic bar foods the Velvet Glove provided, they also regularly cooked for Hordak and Entrapta and would often take meals up to them while Catra was on shift.

After Zed was finished serving Hordak and asking about the taste, they turned to Catra to offer her some.

“I just made a fresh batch, there’s more too!”

“No thanks,” Catra said, stepping towards the door and taking the opportunity to leave. The pressure was already starting to build in her head and she just wanted to focus on work. Heading downstairs, Catra clocked into work and began her shift.

✦✦✦

By the time she got home that night, the headache had blossomed into something more. The un-itchable pressure in the back of her head was still there, clawing at her attention whenever she didn’t have anything else to focus on. But now there was also a certain feeling of 'offness' that surrounded Catra - like a misplaced piece of furniture in her house that she couldn't identify or a smell that was supposed to be there but was missing.

Her body was clearly trying to tell her something, but she had no idea how to interpret it. The feeling wasn’t hunger - that was a deep ache that was way more active than this passive itch. Not knowing made Catra’s hair stand up on end, waiting for a pin to drop and something to assault her senses. For the next day and a half, her tail was never idle, always flicking back and forth in quick and uneven passes. Her sleepwalking too had returned, just as bad as before.

On Saturday afternoon, Catra woke up - this time on the bathroom tile - with a grumbled huff. She had tried sleeping through as much of the day as possible - both to deal with the restlessness and to start shifting her schedule to a nocturnal one. By the lack of light trying to peek through the double layered curtain in the bathroom, she had been mostly successful.

Catra hauled her ass up and into the living room. Nothing _was_ out of place. All eleven dirty dishes were still in the sink, her furniture wasn’t misplaced, and it didn’t look like anyone tried to break in through her broken door.

_Whatever._

Deciding to push through the feeling, Catra began to prepare for her friends to come over. She set about tidying up her apartment. First was the dishes - they had been there too long. After quickly washing them, she started working on tossing out all the old food still in the fridge.

Halfway through, her phone buzzed with a text.

✨ **_Glimmer_ ** ✨ **_[5:12pm]_ **  
_Hey! Got off work early, mind if I head over soon?_ 💖

Catra didn’t hesitate to send a response. If Sparkles was getting here early, it would at least help Catra be able to focus on something else besides the discomfort until Bow and Adora arrived.

**_Catra [5:12pm]_ **   
_Sure, come over whenever._

✨ **_Glimmer_ ** ✨ **_[5:19pm]_ **  
_Okie! On my way!_

After Catra finished taking the garbage downstairs to the basement dumpsters, she returned to her apartment and plopped down on her couch to wait. She fished out her phone and scrolled through social media until her ears perked up to the sound of the elevator _ding_ from down the hall.

Catra strained to listen in to the sound of the person’s footsteps over the various hums of machines and other activities that poured in through her walls. _Tap-tap-tap._ It was an even pattern, quick but not short enough and it was growing quieter, not louder. Catra huffed, _stupid neighbors._

She was about to go for her phone again when another _ding_ caught her attention a second later. Was it actually Sparkles this time? The footsteps were coming in the right direction and were about the right tempo...

A crackle and a snap from down the hall answered Catra’s question. Sparkles appeared in the apartment a few feet in front of the unused door. She had her work clothes on - lavender blouse, black slacks, and a name tag clipped to her belt - and judging by the groan already leaving her lips, Catra could tell she was exhausted.

“You could have knocked.” Catra settled on a teasing tone.

Maybe some part of her should be upset that Sparkles didn’t knock, but that certainly wasn’t the loudest voice in her head, if it even existed. As it was, the vampire’s tail was already in full motion, swishing lightly from where it hung off the side of the couch. Apparently distance had done nothing to quell her instincts.

Glimmer froze, halfway into taking her shoes off by the front door. Her deer-caught-in-headlights expression faded after a second as Catra’s tone must have sunken in.

“Like you couldn’t hear me halfway down the hall,” Glimmer lightly teased, making her way over and slumping down into the couch.

While it was true, Catra was surprised by how much Sparkles had tuned in to her vampiric senses. When had she even noticed? Catra turned fully towards her, spinning onto the couch and sitting cross legged. There were probably words forming in her mind, something snarky and appropriate as a come back for their banter. But with the sight of Sparkles, content to relax and sink into her couch, all Catra could do was hum in agreement.

“Miss me?” Glimmer said, half smirking through her own yawn.

“You wish,” Catra replied with a smile that clearly said she did. “How was your day?”

“Eh? Draining as shit. They had me supervising a bunch of newbies. And this one kid kept fucking up the cold-storage spell and wasting all her samples.” Glimmer’s eyes had drifted closed by the time she finished recapping her day. Her arms were crossed over her chest and even half asleep she still radiated anger.

Catra couldn’t keep down her snicker. “You get so grumpy when you’re sleepy.”

“Bite me.”

Glimmer’s eyes shot open when she realized what she had said, a flush working it’s way across her cheeks. Next to her, Catra burst into cackling laughter and ended up having to wipe a tear away when it finally subsided.

“Angry Sparkles is the _best_.”

Glimmer blew a raspberry - holding it for a full two seconds - before curling into the couch and closing her eyes again. The fur on Catra’s arms stood on end as she watched Sparkles relaxing. She could almost feel that familiar warmth dancing over her skin.

_Bzzzt bzzzt._

Within a second of each other, both of their phones vibrated with a text. It was probably their group chat. Catra glanced back up at Glimmer before sighing and looking down at her phone.

**_BFS4L_ **   
**⚔️** **_Sword Lesbian_ ** **⚔️** **_[6:02pm]_ **  
_Guess who’s back in the country!_   
_ <attached photo> _   
_I learned SO much about vamps on the plane too, can’t wait to share!_

**💘** 🏹 **_Bow_ ** 🏹 **💘** **_[6:03pm]_ **  
_She’s not kidding, she has like five notebooks - hope you’re ready Catra._   
_Also, we’ll be there in half an hour._

Catra tapped the image to fullscreen: Adora was hugging Bow tightly in her arms and was giving her biggest, cheesiest smile to the camera. Bow’s smile was slightly more sheepish - probably due to the crushing hug. 

Despite the fall weather, Adora was wearing only sweats and a tank top - because of course she had to show off her ridiculous biceps and the twin sword tattoos on her forearms. Bow at least had the sense to wear a jacket over his usual cropped shirt.

“She’s such a nerd,” Catra lightly laughed.

“Who s’it?” Sparkles mumbled from the other side of the couch.

“Bow and Adora, they’re on their way from the airport.” Catra replied.

“Yeeee.” Glimmer’s murmur was even quieter.

By the time Catra sent off a reply, Sparkles was snoring into the couch. She was scrunched up in the corner, balled together in the same way that Catra always curled up - legs tucked in and head in her knees. Sleepy Glimmer was just as good as grumpy Glimmer, Catra decided. 

Catra debated waking her again, but thought better of it. _She deserves the rest._ Reluctantly, Catra turned back to her phone to await the arrival of the rest of her friends.

✦✦✦

Some time later, Catra woke to the sound of knocking at her front door. Apparently she had fallen asleep briefly herself - but managed to wake up still on the couch. Sparkles was still there, curled up on the other end.

“Come in.” Catra called out, hopefully loud enough to wake Sparkles but not startle her. It seemed to work as Glimmer blinked awake with only a small grumble. As the door swung open, Catra called out. “Hey guys.”

A rather cold looking Adora stepped in waving vigorously followed by a much warmer looking Bow. They both blinked rapidly to adjust to the dim light of Catra’s apartment. Catra was about to stand up from the couch and walk over, when Glimmer teleported past her and nearly tackled Adora in a tight hug to rival even Scorpia’s.

“Adora! You’re back!” Glimmer shouted, muffled from Adora’s chest.

Catra's tail flicked angrily behind her. A growl was building in her throat and she had to hide it with a cough. What the fuck was wrong with her?

“I was only gone two weeks!” Adora replied, squishing Glimmer back.

“But that was two _whole weeks_. Bow and I missed you so much!”

Glimmer was always a touchy person - none of this was new, except maybe for the part about touching Catra. Everyone in their friend group had become accustomed to giving Catra space - especially physically.

But right now, seeing Sparkles touch Adora made her fur bristle. The pressing headache and relentless itch rolled into a single eerily familiar feeling - an old one that Catra thought she had dealt with when she stopped throwing punches at Sparkles. But it wasn’t the same as before - not exactly. Her frustration wasn’t directed at Sparkles this time. It was _because of her._ Catra tensed her claws reflexively, but kept her hands in her lap. This was stupid, Sparkles could hug and touch whoever the fuck she pleased - it wasn’t Catra’s decision.

"Hey Catra! Wow - you doing ok?" Bow's voice - calm then alarmed - broke through her haze.

Catra looked up to see all her friends looking at her. The concern written into each of their faces told her she was doing a shitty job of keeping her emotions under control. It didn’t help that she was waffling between snapping at him for the pity and accepting the sympathy at face value.

"Yup," she said, swallowing over the dryness in her throat. It wasn't one of her better lies.

"You sure?" Adora asked, dropping her bag by the door and walking over to the couches. Glimmer let her go as she did. "We can do this another time if it's too overwhelming."

"It's fine - I'm fine, just... give me a minute." She managed through gritted teeth.

"Whatever you need," Glimmer said, still standing at the door.

Even as her friends turned back to the doorway to have a quiet conversation, Catra kept her gaze resting on Sparkles, her last words ringing in the vampire’s mind. _What did she need?_

It wasn’t to run away. Though it was the first thing her mind supplied, Catra had grown better at combating that instinct. Her friends were already giving her enough space as it was. She didn’t want them to leave either - especially not because this whole event was basically to check up on her.

The vampire closed her eyes and breathed in deep - not for the air, but to acclimatize her senses to her surroundings. Her apartment was cleaner than before, but the smell of dirty dishes still lightly lingered about. Her friends too, each had their own distinctive smells. Most of it was mixed with their sweat and Catra was pretty sure she could smell the stale recycled plane air still clinging to Adora. But far more apparent, to Catra’s nose, was Sparkles’ scent. There was no particular reason for it - it wasn’t stronger than the rest - but Catra’s nostrils picked up on it the easiest, like they were meant to.

And then it all clicked into place.

The itch and pressure, the need for physical contact, everything getting worse when Sparkles wasn’t around. Catra’s mind drifted back to the day after feeding, past the fight, and to the moment Sparkles asked for the thing she had needed. _‘Can I please hug you?’_ Glimmer’s face had been soft, pleading, and not a little vulnerable. It had worked on Catra then, so no reason to not think it couldn’t work in reverse now. She had to at least try.

The vampire looked up towards her friends, to see them quietly catching up on Adora’s trip, something about Mara now. The instant she did, Sparkles glanced over and caught her gaze.

Catra wasn’t sure if she could form the words. There was too much she wanted to say to those lilac eyes and all of it wanted to come out at once. Instead, she held the stare for as long as she could, pouring as much of her thoughts into it as she could. Sparkles held the eye contact right back and just… nodded.

At first Catra didn't know what it meant.

Then, suddenly, Glimmer was guiding everyone over to the couch and took the seat directly next to Catra. Bow sat down next, on Sparkles' other side and Adora a moment later on the recliner, after fishing a notebook out of her duffel and placing it on her lap. Catra had her knees to her chest and her claws underneath her legs. Her tail was flopped across the couch but, when her friends sat down, she had retreated it to wrap around herself as the confusion set in.

But, as the conversation continued around her, Catra figured out what the nod was for.

Glimmer placed her hand, palm upwards, on the cushion a few inches from the loop of Catra’s tail. Without breaking from the conversation, she glanced towards Catra and raised a questioning eyebrow. The look wasn’t snarky, it wasn’t teasing, it was just a simple offer.

It was what Catra asked for, so why was it so hard to accept? The vampire glanced around at her friends - no one would judge her for it or make fun of her for being needy. And clearly her vampiric senses were getting overwhelmed by everything, so why not just say yes?

Cautiously, Catra uncoiled her tail from her legs and let it flop on top of Glimmer’s arm. She missed Sparkles’ hand entirely and was about to pick her tail up to reset it when she felt Sparkles grab her tail. Catra winced reflexively, ears pinning back from the expected pain, but it never came.

Sparkles fingers smoothed slowly over her fur, a gentle pressure down the end of her tail, gliding along in the direction that her fur naturally fell. It was steady and repeating enough that Catra could even feel the little bit of warmth coming from that touch.

Catra spared a glance over as the conversation shifted and Bow began talking. Glimmer had her tail between her index and middle finger, holding it in place with her thumb on the backside. Catra felt a different kind of growl welling up inside her and had to run a thumb up and down her sternum to suppress the contented purr from coming out.

After a little bit, Catra found that she could focus on the conversation around her. Adora was halfway through explaining the intricacies of Etherian politics that she and Mara had to navigate at the conference. It sounded complicated, a mix of knowing a dozen different names and knowing even more relationships between companies.

Not talking much - or at all in this case - wasn't a foreign thing for the BFS, Catra reminded herself. Catra would do it when she was overwhelmed like now, Adora when she was too hyper focused on work or a project but wanted to be around the others, Glimmer when she preferred napping 'close to the action,' as she put it, or Bow when he wanted to let his mind drift and just be near his friends.

They had worked out this language of communication in the last year or so together and that, along with the slow and warm passes over her tail, brought Catra back down and eased the restless itch out of her.

"So what's in that notebook, Adora?" Catra asked when there was a lull in the conversation.

Before responding, Adora’s gaze seemed to drift off. At first Catra thought it was from the jet lag, but when she followed Adora’s eyes, she found it went straight to her tail, still held in Sparkles’ fingers. Adora caught her looking and flashed the vampire a concerned look. Catra shrugged casually, giving her best _‘it’s fine’_ look. It seemed like enough of an answer for Adora, as she dropped the look.

“Ok, so.” Adora finally said, reaching for a stack of notebooks that were piled up next to the comfy chair she was in. Catra hadn’t even realized that Adora had gotten up to get _more_ notebooks. There were _actually_ five of them, all different colors.

“Because I had a _lot_ of research,” Adora continued, cautiously turning on a lamp near the recliner to its lowest setting. “I consolidated most everything into one book.”

“That’s why we took so long to get here.” Bow cut in. “She had to finish in the parking lot downstairs.”

Catra snorted. She would have gone for something far snarkier in response but the warm fuzzy feeling still on her tail apparently changed her mind, “Well _I_ appreciate all the hard work.”

“Thank you,” Adora replied, over enunciating the words and laughing at the same time. "Alright, so there were a bunch of different vampire traits and stuff - and some sources kinda disagreed with each other. So I'm just gonna read through a list and you tell me which ones have affected you, ya?"

"Sure, that works," Catra replied, already beginning to replay that last few days in her head.

Adora flipped to the front of her notebook and pulled out a pen. “So you’re probably going to be sensitive to light -”

“Ya, I noticed - that shit burns my fucking eyes,” Catra interjected with a snort.

“Ohhh, so _that’s_ what all the mood lighting is for,” Glimmer commented, tapping a finger on her chin from the hand that wasn’t on her tail. Catra rolled her eyes but let Adora continue.

“Most lights at first, but eventually just sunlight.” Adora made a note before continuing. “...so besides that, there’s also heightened hearing,” Adora looked up from her notebook. Catra nodded. “Heightened smell” - nod - “as well as strength...”

“She’s got that alright.” Glimmer said. Catra snapped her head over and her tail out of Sparkles’ fingers. Glimmer immediately corrected herself. “Because of the door, sorry. Bad joke.”

“Right...” Catra said as her hackles deflated. At least Sparkles wasn’t mad at her. 

Catra’s tail flicked back and forth and she could already feel the itch rising from lack of contact. Instead of placing it back where it was, she snaked her tail behind Glimmer’s back. The texture of the couch’s fabric wasn’t great, but the pressure from Sparkles leaning back into the touch was enough to calm Catra’s nerves again.

Out of the corner of her eye, Catra saw Bow and Adora share a glance before Adora continued again, “What about sensitivity to running water?” Catra shook her head and Adora made another small note. “No need to breathe or for oxygen?” Catra nodded.

“Shit, really?” Bow asked, nearly choking on a bag of chips he had just opened. “What’s that like?”

“Awful when I’m having a panic attack.” Catra supplied. Just thinking about the first hour of being turned made her ears flick down. She curled her tail further into the small of Glimmer’s back. “It was pretty terrifying at first too.”

The conversation paused for a moment and Catra didn’t realize she’d been staring off at the wall until she felt Glimmer lean back into her tail. Catra shook her head to clear it and turned back to Adora. “Go ahead.”

“Ah... right, we know about the need to consume blood,” Adora said matter-of-factly.

Catra couldn’t help the glance she stole at Glimmer. Sparkles had the same thought apparently, their eyes meeting for a half a second. Catra couldn’t exactly tell what was being said behind those lilac eyes, but it didn’t seem concerning at least.

“And, compulsion to count?” Adora asked, bringing back her attention. “There wasn’t really a consensus on if that was a thing or not.”

“Ya it fucking is,” Catra groaned. “There’s exactly 47 stairs from this floor to the basement. I washed 11 dishes this afternoon, and Bow has eaten 17 chips from that bag.” As annoying as the compulsion was, it did serve as a decent coping tool in place of breathing.

Bow looked down at the bag in his hands before making an impressed whistle.

“Huh, ok” Adora jotted down another note. “Also your fangs, which I’m pretty sure you already had, right?” - Another nod - “Ya, so they have this venom thing in them - not like actual venom, but like an analgesic? It’s supposed to be soothing, make the bite less painful, and feel kinda good, I think.”

The skip of a heartbeat drew Catra’s attention over to Sparkles. She wasn’t looking back this time, but there was a definite blush growing on her cheeks as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. _I guess she really did enjoy it_ , Catra thought with a smirk.

“I dunno, is that a thing, Sparkles?” She asked with her best innocent voice.

Everyone was staring at Glimmer now. Adora’s expression looked like one of genuine curiosity, the nerd. Bow’s looked just as innocent as Catra was trying to be, but she could see the hint of amusement in the corner of his eyes. Sparkles was doing her best not to meet anyone’s eyes.

“Yup,” Glimmer said, popping the ‘p’.

Bow and Catra shared a conspiratorial quiet laugh. From the corner of her eye, Catra could see Adora making a few more marks in her notebook.

Finally, Adora looked up and added, “Oh, and supposedly the analgesic can be used to close the bite wounds, too.”

“Oh, really? That’s helpful. Less cleanup.” Catra meant it genuinely, but…

“Wait, what!?” Bow exclaimed, his voice jumping an octave as he turned to Glimmer. “How much blood did you lose!? You told me you were fine! Should we run out and get some OJ?”

“Bow, I _am_ fine.” Glimmer said quickly, placating Bow with a hand on his shoulder. Catra wondered if she should be annoyed at that touch too, but it wasn’t like Sparkles hadn’t been nuzzling up against her tail this whole time. “Besides, it was like two days ago and I haven’t been dizzy since that night.”

“So you got dizzy?” Adora asked. She could be a nurse for how much she was scribbling down.

“I mean ya” Glimmer said, suddenly higher pitched.

The image of a clingy, blood drunk Sparkles holding onto Catra as tight as possible as she was moved to the couch replayed in Catra’s head. At the time, it was terrifying - she’d thought Sparkles was about to die. Now though, it was kinda funny and maybe a little cute. Catra thought about sharing the memory, but decided better of it.

“As long as you're okay now, I suppose.” Bow said, back at his usual octave.

“I’m fine.” Glimmer’s voice trailed off as she reached one hand to feel along her neck.

Just seeing the gesture brought back the smell of her blood in the vampire’s nostrils. Catra inhaled instinctively despite the fact that there wasn't any blood to even smell. She was definitely already staring at Sparkles' neck, but she at least managed enough self control to not lick her lips.

As much as she wanted Sparkles to continue - Catra wouldn't _mind_ feeding again - she was very aware that the two of them were not alone. She coughed into her hand lightly and that seemed to snap Glimmer out of it.

Unfortunately, the action was a little late to escape notice.

"Ooh, I wanna see Glim's bite marks!” Adora had set aside her notebook and was now bouncing around in the recliner to get more comfortable. “What do they look like?"

Catra felt the nervous energy roll off Sparkles at the same time the sound of her heartbeat’s rapid pace hit the vampire’s ears. To be fair, Catra felt the same. She didn’t really want anyone else seeing or messing with _her_ marks, as weird as that sounded. If it wasn’t one of her friends asking, she’d have ripped their head off already. Figuratively.

“Why?” Catra said a little too quickly before her voice leveled out into a teasing tone. “You want a bite of your own?” She raised an eyebrow at Adora and smirked wide enough to bare her fangs, hoping the gesture would be enough of a distraction.

“I bet she wouldn’t even taste good.” Sparkles huffed, a little quiet. She sounded almost… bitter?

 _Oh_.

When the realization hit, Catra decided to wiggle her tail a little further behind Glimmer so it could curl around her waist reassuringly. She had no intentions of making Sparkles upset.

To drive her point in further, Catra added, “Ugh, ya with her protein only diet, yuck.”

"Hey! It's nutritious and helps with my fitness regime." Adora crossed her arms.

Sparkles chuckled, amused but still a little soft. Catra felt her sit back up from where she'd slumped down. Glancing over, Catra realized that the two of them were a lot closer than when they had sat down. Catra’s couch wasn’t _that_ big, and could fit three people well enough. But, Glimmer’s leg was brushing up against Catra’s more than a little bit. Not for the first time, she wondered if Sparkles had a similar itch for proximity that Catra did.

Glimmer caught the vampire looking and flashed her a small but genuine smile that Catra couldn't help but return.

The sound of Bow’s voice brought them both back to the conversation. "So Catra, what does Glim taste like then?" 

Ugh, Bow's patently sweet and innocent but _definitely_ not look was a lot more infuriating when it was directed at her. He pretended not to notice the glare Catra was giving him as he ate his 23rd and 24th chip from the bag, the traitor.

"Well Catra?" Sparkles asked, joining in on the bandwagon.

She was giving Catra a _look._ Her cheeks were dusted pink, which seemed unnecessary given that she _knew_ what she tasted like, Catra had told her. She also had a flare of mischief about her, which Catra suspected was in revenge for the comment about her fangs earlier.

Relenting, because Catra wasn't gunna get out of answering apparently, she thought about the taste. The first thing that Catra’s mind supplied was _good_ . Also, _amazing_ and _best food I ever tasted_. She glanced to Sparkles’ shoulder again, as if that would help. There was honestly nothing that could describe the taste, especially when it was laced with so much else.

Eventually Catra settled on “s-sweet?"

Glimmer rolled her eyes, “you said that last time.”

“Well it was true then too,” Catra huffed.

They stared each other down for a moment longer before Bow interrupted, “Well! I’m going to go look at the door.” He got up with a cough like he was avoiding something.

As Bow began examining the broken front door, Glimmer hopped up to go help him. She stuck her tongue out at Catra as she passed by. The vampire flicked her tail across Sparkles hand, half in teasing, and half just for the contact. Catra shifted to the armrest of the couch closest to the door and Adora ended up standing leaning against the back of the armchair.

“So how bad is it?” Catra asked after a minute.

“It’s nothing the four of us can’t handle with a few supplies from a hardware store.” Bow said confidently, nodding to himself. “If I head out now, I can probably get to one before it closes.”

Catra was about to suggest that Adora go with him - strictly for unselfish reasons and so that Bow would have some company - when Adora herself interjected.

“Why don’t you take Glimmer?” Adora said in a rush. “Me and Catra haven’t really had a chance to catch up yet and all...”

Glimmer flashed the vampire a quick look. Catra really didn’t have a logical comeback for that - it was true, Adora and her had barely texted in the last two weeks, they’d both been so busy. 

So Catra shrugged noncommittally.

“Sure, I can drive,” Glimmer said.

✦✦✦

Catra watched Glimmer and Bow leave down the hallway until they turned the corner to the elevators. She even waited for the _ding_ of the elevator to arrive before she stepped back inside her apartment. Reluctantly, she returned to the couch, flopping down unceremoniously and laying on her back. She was trying hard not to grumble or complain - Sparkles would be gone half an hour at most. But she also didn’t feel like being rational about it and the itch was already building again.

From the armchair, Adora asked, “So, how are you doing - besides all the vampire stuff.”

There was a certain tone to Adora’s voice that set Catra on edge. Was she nervous? Or was Catra? The vampire shifted her head to look up at Adora and, sure enough, her brow was furrowed and her mouth was quirked to the side in that little way that always meant Adora had something she was working up to say.

“Eh. Hard to focus on anything else. Works fine, I guess.” Catra responded, letting her head fall back against the cushion again. “How was the trip? I didn’t actually hear much of what you said before.”

Adora hummed to herself, lost in thought for a moment. Eventually she said, “Uh, ya nice change of pace. It was also a nice chance to hang out with Mara again - we rarely get to see each other nowadays. And, well ya...”

A beat of silence passed between them.

“Spit it out Adora. What’s up?” Catra said - it wasn’t harsh, but she also didn’t really have it in her to keep up a bunch of small talk. Even if it would pass the time faster.

“There’s, uh - there’s some other traits I didn’t mention.” Adora let the words hang in the air while she tried to judge Catra’s reaction. Catra sat up and raised a concerned eyebrow to prompt her to continue. “Some things I didn't really want to say in front of the others.”

“Like what?” Catra asked. Her tail was flicking nervously behind her with all the build up Adora was doing.

“So, there’s the myth that vampire’s are immortal, right?” Adora said - slow and cautious. Catra only nodded solemnly. “Well best I can figure - most sites didn’t really want to talk about this - you’re functionally immortal. So long as you have a steady supply of blood, you won’t die of old age.”

The unbidden image of all her friends dying around her, all the funerals, and all the grief played through Catra’s mind. Sure, she had known that living forever was a possibility that came along with the territory, but it had been one she was happy not to focus on.

“Maybe I’ll just turn us all into vampires,” She muttered sardonically. Her ears were drooped and there was no real bite in her words. After a long minute, she added, “How did you find all this stuff out?”

“Um, internet mostly,” Adora said, avoiding eye contact and rubbing the black and white tattoo on her forearms. “Also Mara helped.”

There was definitely more there, but Catra wasn’t going to push it. “Ok… What else?”

“Oh ya, it’s in relation to feeding. Like with you and the person your feeding with. Supposedly, you might get a little _... possessive._ Of Glimmer.” Adora whispered that word like it was a curse. The truth wasn’t far from it.

Catra had never had a good relationship with that word.

It had been the word she’d come to describe her former guardian as - along with manipulative and creepy - and Catra had nearly sunk to a similar level when she’d first met Adora back in college. It was the first time Catra was actually free from her adoptive guardian’s clutches. So she grabbed at the first shred of a good thing she could find, and that was her friendship with Adora. Anything that got in the way of that - including an angry Sparkles - had been a threat.

“Oh,” Catra said, swallowing around a suddenly dry throat.

Adora watched Catra closely - too closely really. She was probably trying to gauge Catra’s reaction if the continued furrowed brow was anything to go by. Adora knew part of the story, so her hestance to inform Catra did make sense.

“So… is that a thing?” Adora slowly asked.

Catra’s mind reeled at the possibility that Adora was right, but - try as she might - even Catra wasn’t capable of denying that _possessive_ was the exact word to describe what she felt. The constant restlessness when she wasn’t around Glimmer, the need to be in physical contact, the annoyance when someone else got that contact instead.

“Ya.” Catra blurted out. “It’s a thing.”

Adora glanced down to the notebooks sitting beside the arm char, but - much to Catra’s relief - didn’t pick one up to write down this little detail.

With as loud a groan as she could muster, Catra flopped back again, splaying out on the couch. _Possessive._ Had she been forcing Sparkles to give her blood? Did she just stay with Catra that day because the vampire threatened her? Sparkles had looked so terrified underneath her grip. Every memory of her and Sparkles in the last week became slowly tainted by that word.

But there was another word that described Sparkles. _Safe._ From their conversation on either side of Catra’s busted door to the first touch in the bathroom before feeding, that safety had always been there. The surge of soothing warmth that washed over the vampire felt as good as any breathing exercise had before she was turned. _Safe. Sparkles is safe._ Catra repeated it to herself like a mantra. Eventually she felt her fur settle most of the way back down and her tail stilled from it’s violent flicks into more passibly neutral ones.

“Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit?” Adora asked quietly.

Catra hesitated for a moment but eventually decided, “fuck no. I’d rather not spiral again.”

“It’s only a tendency, right? It doesn’t have to define you.” Adora said, aiming for reassuring but sounding a little unsure of her words. “And besides, it’ll be a good chance for you two to become closer, right?”

Catra snorted and rolled her eyes, “You could say that again.”

In the last four days, Catra had spent half that time touching Sparkles and the other half _apparently_ wishing she was. Ok, maybe it should have been more obvious. Her tail thumbed loudly against the couch as the memories came back. Catra glared at it for a moment with as much _shut the fuck up_ energy as she could muster, but it didn’t stop the thwacking.

Whatever, at least this was better than a panic attack and maybe Catra didn’t hate talking about Sparkles with Adora after all.

“Wait, is that -.” Adora began. Catra could hear the lightbulb go off in Adora’s head by the way she perked up and a massive dorky grin spread over her face. “Was that what that was - earlier?”

“Nope.”

“Cuz I was under the _distinct_ impression that you _hated_ having your tail touched or pulled.” Adora’s eyebrows were doing that stupid wiggle.

Of course she noticed. Adora was too kind and considerate not to. And if this dork had, then Bow was guaranteed to have as well. Catra briefly wondered if a similar conversation was happening at the appliance store right now.

The problem was that Adora wasn’t wrong. No touching her tail was one of the first things they had established in their friendship and Adora had respected the boundary ever since. Strangers coming up to pull on her tail for the ‘novelty of it’ was enough of a nuisance, she didn’t need her friends doing it as well. Of course, what Sparkles was doing wasn’t the same as yanking her tail though…

“The day after the feeding, we… might have… spent-the-day-after-together” Catra mumbled in quick succession.

“Oh? And how was it?” Adora was leaning so far forward that she almost fell off the seat. Catra almost wanted to see it happen just for her to hit the coffee table. That would show her.

“We cuddled and that’s it.” Catra said just as fast. She rolled over to face the back of the couch and bury her head in it. Mumbling into the cushion, she said, “ _Now_ I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“Okay, yup, no problem - I won’t bring it up again.” Adora said. Catra didn’t have to see her to know that she had both her hands up, palms outward. “But I am proud of you - I know touch is super hard for you, Catra, and this is a big deal.”

Catra flung a couch pillow at Adora, not even bothering to look where she was throwing. It wasn’t even a hard throw and by the sound of it, Adora caught it easily.

“I mean, I didn’t say anything - nope.”

Catra groaned.

“Yup! Here I go not bringing it up!”

✦✦✦

Bow and Glimmer got back 47 minutes after they left - compulsive counting apparently extended to basic math. Or maybe it was the clinginess. Either way, Catra did her best to not immediately tackle Sparkles in a hug as soon as she walked through the door.

While they were out, Bow had texted asking about getting dinner. Catra had agreed - despite not being able to eat any of it. Even if she wasn’t paying for it, it felt like a decent way of saying thanks to her friends for giving a shit about her and coming over to check up on her.

So, the group of them were about to sit down at Catra’s tiny kitchen table. It was a laminated wooden folding table that she purchased because the line was being discontinued. The four stools around it - two on either side - were little more than old bar stools from the Velvet Glove that had their legs shaved down and were washed thoroughly.

Normally, when the four of them went out, they had a pattern for how they sat, whether they went to restaurants, the movies, or whatever. Adora and Catra would sit on one side and Glimmer and Bow on the other. No one had _said_ that the arrangement was a rule, it was just habit. It probably formed sometime back in college, back when Glimmer and Catra couldn’t stand being within a foot of each other.

But the vampire wasn’t about to let an unspoken social rule get in her way. Catra easily slipped past Bow and slid into the seat next to Glimmer. She flashed Bow an half-apologetic smile before leveling her best ‘ _say nothing’_ glare at Adora.

Bow wordlessly redirected his trajectory to the other side of the table. He didn’t look upset or surprised even, which was perhaps a little concerning. Adora, for her part, just shook her head, an amused smile playing over her lips. Whatever, at least she was keeping quiet. Sparkles gave one of her pleased hums as she unwrapped the plastic bags that contained their food.

“So how much did the repair parts cost?” Catra asked. Half to push the conversation away from her stunt, half because she wasn’t about to let Bow pay for it by himself.

While she waited for Bow to answer, Catra slinked her tail across Glimmer’s lap, eventually finding its way back to her knee. The action was definitely not that subtle - Sparkles sat up a bit too quickly in response - but Catra pretended not to notice.

“It wasn’t that much, don’t worry about it.” Bow said, sliding a few plastic containers around as Glimmer handed them to him.

“Oh, I insist.” Catra responded. “I fucked it up, let me pay for it.”

“Fine, fine.” Bow paused to take a first bite of his food. “I got new hinges and a door knob/lock set. It was like fifteen bucks.”

“Mkay.” Catra fished out her phone while everyone else began eating. She tapped out the amount and sent the money to Bow.

Next to her, Sparkles scooted her stool closer to the table. As she readjusted, she was careful not to not dislodge the vampire’s tail and when she was finished, she was definitely a bit closer to Catra. Apparently close enough to reach out with one of her legs - the one with Catra’s tail around it - and intertwine it with the vampire's leg at the ankle.

Catra was definitely giddy smiling at that. The contact was warm and comforting and just for her. Maybe finally having a name for what she was feeling was making her more confident - or at least less worried about showing it in front of others. Sparkles giggled to herself when she caught sight of the smile and the warm feeling that spread through the vampire at the sound only made her smile grow.

“So... there’s apparently real vampire food.” Adora said casually as if Catra and Glimmer weren’t just having a moment to themselves.

“Oh ya?” Catra replied, letting her gaze linger on Sparkles before turning to Adora. When the comment sunk in, she added, “Wait there is?”

Bow shook his head, a very amused smile on his lips. Catra ignored him - if he didn’t want her to be clingy, he should have been quicker at the hardware store.

“Ya, it’s called a Midnight Menu.” Adora said between bites. “I don’t know the details, but apparently it’s edible for vampires.”

“Wow, shit. Restaurants really serve that kind of stuff?” Catra said.

“I think so.” Adora pulled her phone out and brought up a set of images, passing the device over to Catra.

The restaurant was called _Crimson's._ The cover of the menu was midnight black with deep purple floral borders that were nearly just as dark as the background. The name itself, along with the words ‘ _By reservation only’_ underneath, were printed in bold red letters.

“Oh, I know that place.” Glimmer exclaimed from where she was looking over Catra’s shoulder. The vampire tilted the screen to give her a better view. “My mom hosted an end of year party there for the company. Nothing about it seemed like it’d be for vampires, though.”

Catra scrolled through the first few pages - there was an _extensive_ drink list, most of them ones Catra recognized but a handful she didn’t. After every name came a list of ingredients - even the non-mixed drinks - and the list included things like _deer, cow, chicken,_ or _goat._ Catra flipped to the entrees - they were listed the same way. Maybe they were different types of blood?

Amongst the foods, there were a fair number of regular sounding dishes mixed in with about five different types of steak tartare and twice the number of dishes with raw fish. There was even something called a Midnight Sampler, which instead of ingredients, had a line after it that read, _‘Curated nightly by our head chef.’_ That kind of sounded a _little_ concerning - were they bringing in fresh bodies every night? Catra hoped that wasn’t the case - if they had a regular menu, hopefully everything was above board.

Except for maybe the name, nothing actually _said_ it was for vampires and, unless someone knew what to look for, the menu was like any other. At the top of each page read a small blurb, _midnight menu served from 8pm to 4am._

“Damn, this looks legit.” Catra remarked, passing the phone to Bow so he could thumb through it. “And fancy. Could we even afford to go there?” The question wasn’t directed _just_ at Sparkles, but given that she was still hanging off of Catra’s shoulder, it wasn’t like Catra was really referring to anyone else either.

Adora picked up on the implication way too fast, “Oh you two should definitely go!”

“We could dress up all fancy too!” Glimmer finally let go of Catra’s shoulder to clap her hands together in delight. “I wonder how hard reservations are to get…”

Catra’s glare at Adora was met with a knowing smirk and absolutely no apology for that suggestion. Whatever, it’s not like she hated the idea of spending more time with Sparkles.

“Wait, so if there are restaurants out there for vamps,” Bow said, looking up from Adora’s phone. “How many vampires actually exist?”

A restaurant _would_ need a lot of vampire business to pay for all the staff and chefs. And did all vampires just have tons of money laying around that they could afford a $100 meal every night? Living for a few centuries first might help with that, but it still meant that Catra was shit out of luck.

“I mean, we know of at least one other,” Adora said lightly.

“We do?” Catra looked up from her thoughts to find her friends staring at her with concern again.

“The person who turned you.” Bow said just softly.

“Right...” Catra replied, her gaze falling to the floor. When Glimmer offered a comforting hand to her shoulder, the vampire leaned into it without hesitation.

 _The person who turned me._ Catra still didn’t remember much from the first night - mostly just vague flashes, the pain of being bitten and clawed at, and the rush of her senses afterwards. Would she ever see that person again? Would she know them by sight? By smell? What would she do if she did see them? A dozen different scenarios ran through Catra’s head ranging from conversational to… much less friendly interactions.

Catra absently lifted a hand and ran her thumb over the tips of Glimmer’s fingers. She wasn’t sure how long the four of them sat silent, waiting for Catra to process, but by the time she looked up again, a deep scowl was already setting into her face.

"I want to know who they are - why they did this to me…" Catra growled.

Glimmer squeezed a little harder, drawing Catra’s gaze. “We’ll find them.” She mouthed the words more than said them aloud, but Catra heard them nonetheless.

After that, the conversation turned away from vampires. The four of them went back to talking about food, work, places they wanted to visit, anything that wasn't directed at just Catra or vampires. It was nice and relaxing in its own way - just as much as the hand that never left Catra’s shoulder or the foot that still intertwined with her own.

After they finished chatting, they set to fixing Catra’s front door. Bow gave them instructions to follow and together they managed to get the door off its hinges, replace the lock, and drill new holes for the replacement hinges.

As much as Catra was expecting a snarky joke about how much damage she did to the door - which even Catra was shocked at how bad it was - no one did. While they worked, Catra and Glimmer were never far from each other. Always a hand’s - or tail’s - length away, always within each other’s vision.

By the time they were done setting the door back up, it was nearly too late to vacuum up the dust and mess that the project had made. It was a while after that that everyone began to head home.

Adora was nearly passed out on the armchair from jet lag and sleepily made her way to the door with a “Bye Catra! Talk soon.”

Glimmer and Bow helped her along. 

“See you soon dork, thanks for all the research.” Catra hopped up from where she was on the couch to stand next to them as they were getting their things to leave.

Bow leveled a serious look at Glimmer before asking, “You coming home tonight?”

Catra’s tail was suddenly ruffled as she blinked rapidly at Bow’s question. Had she really heard him right? _What kind of question was that!?_

Without hesitating, Sparkles swiveled to Catra and asked, “You have work tonight, ya?”

Catra barely managed to nod.

“Then ya,” Glimmer said, turning back to Bow. “I can drive us home if you want.”

Catra couldn’t help the Sparkles-rivaling pout that set onto her face. While it was true she would be out late, it still would have been nice to have Sparkles around for longer. The vampire managed to recover from her shock enough to smooth her tail down and run it over Glimmer’s hand as she walked out of the apartment with Bow and Adora.

“See ya, Catra,” Glimmer smiled - small and sweet.

“Ya, see ya soon.” Catra said. She didn’t need a mirror to know that she was returning the look.

“Bye Catra!” Bow called out in sing-song fashion.

As she watched them walk down the hallway again, the pout only grew in size. The three of them rounded the corner for the elevator bays and Catra was _about_ to close her newly fixed door when she heard Bow’s voice whispering.

“What was that?” He was not doing a good enough job being quiet. Catra swiveled an ear to keep listening in as she leaned against the doorframe.

“W-What?" Was Sparkles shaky response. Since she knew how good Catra's hearing was, it was a little harder to tell but Catra was pretty sure her voice hitched when she replied.

"We are _so_ talking about this later."

"Ugh, fine. Just go." The elevator dinged. In a louder voice, Glimmer called out, "Bye Catra!"

Catra chuckled to herself before calling back, “Bye Sparkles!” At least she wouldn’t be the one to be integrated this time.

✦✦✦

Several hours and one exhausting shift later, Catra returned to her apartment, remembering to use her key for the first time in days. She quickly shed her work clothes, got ready for bed, and flopped down onto the mattress.

Unfortunately, it was only about two in the morning and - even though she was physically drained - she’d need to stay up later if she was actually going to maintain a nocturnal schedule.

Catra rolled over and unplugged her phone from where it was resting on her night stand. She winced slightly at the bright light of the screen - the rest of the room was pitch black - but the auto adjust soon took over. The vampire absently scrolled through a handful of different sites just to pass the time.

At first it was cat videos, which - cliche or not - were always a go to for Catra. Then from there, her recommended section took her to nail tutorials. Most of them were sparkly and filled with glitter. None of them (except maybe the halloween themed videos) were really Catra’s style, but she watched them anyway.

It was at 3:40 in the morning that Catra finally admitted it to herself. Fuck, she really did miss Sparkles.

Catra closed out of the current video - someone had their nails painted the exact colors of Glimmer’s hair - and tapped over to her messages, opening up her conversation with Sparkles.

She typed out a message and paused before sending it, finger hovering over the button. Should Catra wait until the morning? Sparkles probably wouldn’t even be awake right now.

“Fuck it.” Catra mumbled, smashing the send button.

**_Catra [3:41am]_ **   
_"Wanna try that Crimson's place out?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all, I can’t wait to take you on this (not) date, you are not ready - there’s gunna be sooo much gay. I’ve been itching to show off more of the vampire culture in BB and we only dipped a toe in for ch 3, but we’ll definitely get more in ch 4.
> 
> Let me know what you thought. Kudos and comments are a great way to motivate me! 💖


End file.
